


ARC: Art Rehabilitation Center

by GodzillaDez



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Art Teacher, F/M, delinquets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 02:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 48,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2755580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodzillaDez/pseuds/GodzillaDez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke Griffin is the director for ARC (the Art Rehabilitation Center that she runs out of her house). She takes troubled kids and helps them turn their lives around, hopefully, helping them with school, releasing their anger, and growing up without committing crimes. She loves the kids, but she doesn't always love the parents/guardians. Guardians like Bellamy Blake, whose sister Octavia ends up in the program herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ms. G takes the meeting

                His tie was uncomfortable, the suit was way too tight, and the shoes on his feet were definitely not waterproof- a fact he’d learned when he stepped from the car, which leaked as well, directly into a mud puddle. He stuck out like a sore thumb, but he had to be there for Octavia, who was sitting next to him in dress pants and the hoody that she refused to take off. They were at her school board hearing, the hearing that would decide if she’d be staying at Mount Weather High School, or if they’d be moving again.

                “Mr. Blake, your sister vandalized a very important piece of this school. It will take weeks to clean the cafeteria, and we suspect that she is guilty of planting the illegal drugs in the school garden as well. Action must be taken. If this were her first or second offense, we may be able to look past it, but, Mr. Blake, this is her sixth offense. She should have come in front of the council weeks ago to…”

                The sound of the doors opening in the gym interrupted Marcus Kane’s long winded speech and Bellamy looked over to see a blonde woman rushing through the doors, her hair held up in a messy bun with paintbrushes and the dress she was wearing stained with blues and greens. There was even a smudge of pink paint across her forehead, above the startling blue left eye. Bellamy waited for her to take a seat in the gymnasium, which was only occupied by himself, Octavia, the five people on the council, and a few of Octavia’s teachers. But she didn’t. She marched up the center of the aisle and let out a breezy, “Hey, Octavia” before she came to a stop in front of the council table with her hands on her hips.

                “You know, Marcus, I was sure this meeting was taking place on Thursday. So can you imagine my surprise when Jas came in and told me that the meeting was taking place today, a full day before you said it would. I guess I must have misheard you. I probably had paint in my ears,” the woman said with a threat in her voice. “Of course you wouldn’t have lied to me about a student’s hearing.”

                “Of course not, Ms. Griffin,” the dark haired man said through gritted teeth. “I’m so glad Jasper found you.”

                “Clarke, what do you want?” Jaha, the superintendent, cut to the chase.

                “I want to know why you’re planning on suspending or expelling Ms. Blake when you know damn good and well that there’s another alternative that is much better for students.”

                “Ms. Griffin,” Kane spoke again, “I thought we agreed that you would be taking the year off, not inviting anymore students to ARC since the incident.”

                “Funny thing, how you’re confusing ‘agreed’ with ‘you ordered me to’ again, Kane. It’s been eight months. You know the agreement I have with the school. If a student is in trouble and about to be expelled, I will review their case and, if I think I can help, then they will be invited to ARC, and their expulsion will be postponed on a probationary grounds,” Clarke Griffin’s voice was cold and hard and Bellamy’s ears perked up.

                “What is ARC?” he demanded. “And why hasn’t anybody told me about it?”

                He stood up quickly and Clarke turned to stare at him, her blue eyes appraising him for a second before she took two steps forward and extended her hand. “Clarke Griffin, art teacher here at Mount Weather and the director of the Art Rehabilitation Center in town. You must be Octavia’s brother. I’ve heard a bit about you. If you follow me, we can talk about Octavia’s options in ARC, or you can stay here and listen to Marcus ramble on about consequences.”

                “Ms. Griffin, we’ve talked about this,” Jaha sighed, but it was half-hearted at best and Clarke flipped her hand over her shoulder to wave him off.

                “I’m going with her,” Bellamy announced. He nodded at Octavia and found her smiling at the blonde woman who led them out of the gymnasium. They followed her out into the hallway, through the school, and into the art room where a boy with goggles and a dark haired boy were painting a canvas green.

                “Jasper, will you guys take my car and grab some dinner? Wherever you want tonight,” Clarke ordered. “There’s some money in the glove box.”

                The boys abandoned their canvas to grab Clarke’s purse and she pressed a kiss to the forehead of the kid with goggles before they raced out the door. Bellamy commented, “He looks a little old to be your son.”

                “Or maybe I just look a little young to be his mom,” she replied drily. “Have a seat, please. I want to talk to you about ARC, and maybe Octavia will agree as well to it.”

                “Ms. G, I’ve heard about ARC and it sounds nice and all and what you do for people is great, but I’m not a socially retarded. I haven’t stabbed anyone. I never sold drugs. And I’m not some at risk teen for an early death,” Octavia said bluntly.

                “O, please, be quiet,” Bellamy begged, expecting to see Clarke grow cold like she had on the council. But Ms. Griffin only smiled a little at her and pointed at the desks before walking over to the coffee pot in the corner.   

                “Mr. Blake, would you like a cup of coffee? Or tea? I think Jasper has some here still.”

                “No. Thank you. I’d just like to talk about how to keep Octavia in school.”

                “Fair enough.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and joined them at the desks again. Octavia scowled, already knowing that she’d be joining the ARC program, whether she wanted to or not. Ms. Griffin explained, “Eight years ago, my father started the ARC program as a way to help the troubled youth of the community, the kids that nobody else wanted to help, because they were too much trouble or because the people around here want to find anything to blame except themselves.  My father died when I was twenty, but, when I finished college the next year, I took the program over, and I’ve been running it for four years. When a student joins the program, they start spending weekends at my house, where the camp is run.  We do art programs, like painting, music, film, drama, etcetera, but we also do college preparation, special interests, life skills, outdoor skills, and whatever else the current students want to do. Once a month we do outings to the city. Everything is paid for. There are basic rules and the idea is that, once they are in the program, they cannot be expelled without due cause. Their expulsion is put off as long as I say that they are doing well in the program, and as long as they do not break any laws.”

                “You let teenagers go live in your house?” Bellamy demanded, his eyes suspicious on her.

                “Yes,” she answered honestly. “Parents, or guardians, are welcome at any time and are invited to stay as well. I do have security, all of which have passed sensitivity training and background checks, which I have also passed. It seems strange, but it’s a second chance. It’s only September, Octavia. What happens if you get expelled right now?”

                “We move again,” Bellamy answered for her. “We got here in June. If you get expelled, we move again. Maybe back to Ohio. Maybe to Washington again. I don’t know. But we have to move again.”

                For the first time since the entire thing began, Octavia looked guilty, for just a second, she looked like she felt bad for the hell she put her older brother through. Then, she said firmly, “I’m not painting a picture of a meadow, or singing Kumbayah in some circle.”

                Clarke grinned and replied, “I do pickups in the van on Friday afternoon. You can go home first, or you can leave from the school. We all have dinner together. Mr. Blake, you’re welcome to come.”

                “Just this first weekend,” he answered. “And call me Bellamy.”

                When he and Octavia left Clarke’s art room just as Jasper and Monty were racing past with food, Bellamy promised, “This will be good for you, O. This will be good for us.”

                “I know, Bell. We’re not going to move again,” she said firmly. “We’re going to make this work.”

                Bellamy draped his arm over his little sister’s shoulders and nodded. “We can do this, O.”


	2. More Money Than God

                Friday found the Blake siblings standing outside of their apartment building, both of them clutching a duffel bag in their hands. Bellamy had even taken the weekend off work for it, both jobs. A big blue, twelve passenger van pulled up to the curb and the blonde Ms. Griffin leaned out the window to smile at both of them. “Mr. Blake, the front seat is all yours.”

                There was a whine and some laughter inside the van and Clarke looked over her shoulder to call something out. She looked back and nodded towards the van, informing them, “Come on. It’s safe.”

                They climbed in, Bellamy taking the passenger seat and looking over his shoulder to meet five pairs of eyes staring back at him as Octavia took a seat between Monty and Jasper. There was a girl and two other boys in the back of the van. The first thing that Octavia said was, “So why are you guys in here?”

                “Octavia, we talked about this. The first rule of the ARC is that we do not ask each other about our past. The past does not matter, only what we’re doing with our lives right now,” Clarke lectured from the front seat. “If you all want to share, that’s on each of you. But nobody needs to share.”

                “I’m Jasper, that’s Monty. In the back you have Miller, Monroe, and Atom,” Jasper murmured.

                “Don’t you live with Ms. G? Why are you riding in the van?” Octavia asked.

                “She didn’t bring her car to school today so I couldn’t ride home, or drive the car home,” Jasper replied with a shrug. “Fridays I usually come with her anyway. Kind of a habit, I guess. Even if she’s my mom, I’m still in the ARC program.”

                Clarke turned up the radio and Monroe, Monty, and Jasper sang along to some goofy song. Bellamy stared at the kids in the rear view mirror. Monroe’s blonde hair was tightly braided and, when she wasn’t singing, she was frowning. Miller stared out the window constantly, his dark eyes on the landscape, but he would smile over at Monroe when she elbowed him in the ribs. Atom’s eyes were on Octavia and Bellamy didn’t like the way they kept tracing over the back of her head, or the way she would look over her shoulder and smile when she turned back around. Bellamy cleared his throat and asked, “This is a co-ed camp?”

                “We’re very careful about it,” Clarke answered, still tapping her fingers on the steering wheel to the song on the radio. “Outside of camp, date all you want, as long as it doesn’t affect your ability to graduate high school. Inside of camp, we’re a family. If you date, you have to follow specific protocols. And it’s only with parental/guardian permission.”

                “So you don’t even tell the parents what they’re in for?”

                “I don’t take sexual cases,” Clarke said shortly. “I have to know that my kids are safe. And part of that is making sure that they don’t get judged for what gets them here. None of them know about Octavia’s file, you don’t need to know about theirs. This doesn’t work without trust.”

                “So what happens when the parents stay?”

                “There are separate spaces for the parents, the boys, and the girls. You’ll see. Stop asking.”

                He smirked and was silent for the rest of the ride. She pulled into a long driveway and, when she reached the house, Octavia and Bellamy gasped. Bellamy demanded, “This is your house?”

                It was more a mansion than a house. Three floors, two wings, a couple cars parked out front, and a pool in the back. Clarke parked the van, looked over, and announced, “Drop your bags off in your rooms. Everybody helps with dinner! Blakes, you follow me.”

                Clarke climbed out of the car and followed the kids in. Bellamy and Octavia followed behind her. Clarke ordered, “Bellamy, stay in the living room. You can’t come up to the girl’s wing.”

                He nodded and Clarke led Octavia away, returning a few moments later to take him up the stairs. She led him down a red carpet hallway and he asked, “So where’d you get the money for all this? This doesn’t exactly seem like a high school art teacher salary.”

                “My dad left it to me when he died. Mom had gotten remarried a few years before he died, so I got everything he had left. I work at the high school because I like it. I sell artwork for any money I need, and I do painting commissions for rich people. Rich people love to have their pictures painted,” Clarke answered.

                “You must be one hell of an artist.” Bellamy whistled low. “Gotta be a little scared to have kids like these ones in here all the time.”

                “Don’t say it like that. There is no ‘kids like these.’ There are no good kids and bad kids. There are only kids,” Clarke lectured without turning around to look back at him. “My room’s at the front of the hall, closest to the stairs. I’m a light sleeper. All parents sleep in the rooms back here. I have to protect my kids.”

                “Jasper sleeps in the men’s wing as well?”

                “No. Jasper has the third floor. It’s kind of his thing. I don’t mess around with what he does up there. As long as I don’t think he’s getting himself into trouble, he gets to do what he wants up there. Right now, he’s growing an aloe garden.” Her voice was proud.

                “That sounds good. So you really don’t tell parents what the kids did to land here?” Bellamy asked one more time as she showed him to his room.

                “Never.”

 

                Dinner was a rush of shouting and things being tossed around. Jasper and Monty threw things across the kitchen every time anything needed passed from one end of the kitchen to the other. Monroe bumped Miller every time they walked past one another, knocking him into the fridge more than anything, and he would just laugh and reach behind him to swat her. Atom sat up on the counter, slicing vegetables as Jasper and Monty threw them to him. Clarke worked with the meat and handed the Blakes the recipe for dessert. She promised Octavia, “You’ll find your place when things get settled down. They all did.”

                As dinner cooked, the kids poked at each other and Clarke laughed, joining in on their fun. It was clear that they were used to each other and that the kids trusted her. Bellamy didn’t know what to do, except follow the recipe Clarke gave them and wait for them to all sit down. When they did, they passed the food around stopped so they could all say one thing that they’d done well that week. It ranged from “Got an A on a test” (Monroe) to “Didn’t hit that guy” (Atom) to “Finally talked to my English teacher” (Miller). Octavia thought about it for a second and said, “I came here.”

                Then, it was Bellamy’s turn and he just stared at Clarke for a second before Jasper nudged him and hissed, “You have to do it.”

                Bellamy finally grunted, “Got the weekend off work.”

                The night after dinner was relaxed. The kids went to the living room and watched a movie on the biggest damn tv Bellamy had ever seen somebody actually own. Afterwards, they were released to the grounds or the house while Clarke cleaned up from dinner. Bellamy and Octavia wandered around the outside of the house while Jasper and Monty disappeared upstairs and Atom, Miller, and Monroe played basketball on the court outside.

               

                The next morning, Bellamy woke up to a knock on his bedroom door. Clarke called out, “Breakfast in ten.”

                He made it downstairs in fifteen and found all the kids except Jasper glaring over their coffee at Clarke. Clarke herself was wearing running shoes and her blonde hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Monty grumbled, “She’s like this every morning. Every weekend. It’s unholy. We sleep in on Sundays, but she kills us on Saturdays.”

                “You should be used to it then,” Jasper teased.

                “Just because you live with her, doesn’t mean you have to taunt us,” Miller growled.

                “Breakfast, then homework,” Clarke ordered as she stirred eggs. “Then, it’s arts. Then outdoors. Lunch. College or career prep, and you’re not getting out of it this time, Miller. Group talk, whatever’s been bugging you and I know there’s something bugging you, Jas. Individual projects. Dinner. Partner up. Then free time until bed. Does anybody have anything different they want to do today?”

                “Can I go canoeing during outdoor time?” Atom asked.

                “Yep. But don’t take the green ATV. Something’s wrong with the transmission and I haven’t had time to get it fixed yet. Octavia, flip the waffles please.”

                “How much money does she have?” Bellamy muttered.

                “More than God,” Monty replied with a laugh. “And she’s more than willing to spend it on us.”

                Breakfast was quieter than dinner. There wasn’t as much laughter, and a lot more glaring at Clarke. After breakfast, they shuffled off to different rooms to do homework and Bellamy joined Clarke in the kitchen for cleanup. The morning went pretty calmly and Bellamy found himself falling in love with Clarke’s program. It would be good for Octavia. While she went to the activities, he wandered around the estate, watching the kids that, if he didn’t know any better, he would think they were all just regular kids. Sunday was a lot of the same and, when Clarke dropped them off at home on Sunday night, Octavia grinned at him and informed him, “I think this is a new start for us, Bell. And I think you really impressed Ms. G.”

                “Yeah well, I got to give it to the blonde,” Bellamy replied. “She kind of impressed me too.”


	3. Leave the Kids Alone

                “So you’re really not going to tell me what they all did?” Bellamy was exhausted. He had just pulled a double shift at the bar and barely made it home in time to get Octavia in the car to go to school. They were being incredible careful not to break any rules that would ruin her chance in ARC.

                “I am not going to tell you, Bell. That’s the rule. I can’t break Ms. G’s rules. Maybe you can come over this weekend and find out. Monty’s mom came last time and she talked to me about the graffiti and the planting pot in the garden. I told her I didn’t plant the pot and she said she knew. She said I didn’t look like I knew enough about pot to plant it in the garden.”

                “She sounds charming,” Bellamy said drily. “Is Ms. G here today? Is this one of her teaching days?”

                “Yeah. Do you want to come in and see her?”

                “Yes.”

                Bellamy dropped Octavia off at the front doors and nobody stopped him when he walked by the front office. He knew he didn’t look like a student, with the smell of smoke in his hair and the way his clothes were still wrinkled and stained from work. He made a note to make a complaint of that. He made it to the art room and not a damn person stopped him. Clarke wasn’t in the art room, but Jasper was, painting red slashes on the green canvas he’d seen a few weeks earlier. He looked up when Bellamy entered and said, “Mom went to get breakfast. She’s running a little late this morning.”

                “I’ll just wait on her, if you don’t mind.”

                “Nah. There’s some comfy bean bags over there. When I have free period I sleep in them. And sometimes when I don’t have a free period but Mom’s not teaching that day.”

                “I’ll just sit here.” Bellamy took a spot on top of the desk. Jasper shrugged and went back to working on the canvas. Bellamy said conversationally, “What are you working on?”

                “I don’t know, really. The reds and greens just make me feel better. Clarke said I can paint whatever I want. So I’m just thinking about colors,” Jasper replied. “She said that it will come out when it comes out.”

                “You go back and forth between Mom and Clarke a lot. What do you call her at home?” Bellamy persisted in the conversation.

                “Mostly Mom. Depends on the mood I’m in. She’s cool with it She knows that sometimes I need a Mom and sometimes I need a Clarke.” Jasper’s tone stayed conversational.

                “How’d you end up with Clarke?” Bellamy picked at the dirt under his nails.

                “Monty and I got in trouble a few years ago, and Monty’s parents cared, my parents didn’t care. So Clarke invited us to ARC and then, she adopted me because my parents weren’t taking care of me.”

                “What happened?”

                “We were running a pharmacy out of our lockers. This was before Mom got hurt. It was just me and Atom and Monty when the Murphy thing happened and we thought the ARC was going to get shut down.”

                “The Murphy thing?” Bellamy repeated. This kid was the easiest thing in the world to get talking.

                “Yeah. Atom came in just before this guy named Murphy. He got in trouble for boosting a car with some rich dude’s daughter. Atom says that it was her idea, but she cried kidnapping and he almost got sent away for a really long time before Mom stepped in. Murphy got in trouble for some fights he got in. They say he almost cut a guy open. But Mom thought she could fix him and she’s always had this open door policy so when he came over one night, she just thought he needed help. She’d just picked up Monroe and Miller so we had a full house all the time and she was worried about personal attention to each of us. He tried to rob her and when she tried to talk him out of it, he stabbed her. It was pretty bad. I heard her scream.”

                Bellamy stared at the boy’s shoulders as he painted a wide red streak across the green. He asked quietly, “What made her want to take kids in again?”

                “She never wanted to stop, I guess. Miller and Monroe got pinched as a duo, so they kinda got brought in together, and Raven was when Monty and I first got there, back when Clarke was married. She used to have Dax and Harper too. They graduated and they’re somewhere in college. Raven’s in college now too, but we don’t talk about her much and…”

                “Jas, whatcha talking about?” Clarke’s voice was soft from the doorway, but Bellamy and Jasper looked up at her like she’d shouted. She was wearing jeans and a stained black t shirt with a tray of coffees and a bag of breakfast delicately balanced in her hand.

                “Oh no.” Bellamy could see the kid’s face drain of color and his eyes get as big as the goggles on his head. “Oh no, Mom. I didn’t….I didn’t mean to….”

                “No, sweetheart. It’s okay. I’m not mad at you. Come here.” Clarke put the food down on a desk near the door and swept the kid who was nearly a foot taller up in her arms. “You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetheart. We’ll talk at home about it, alright? I’m not mad at you. But I do want to talk to Mr. Blake. I’m mad at him, okay? You didn’t mean to.”

                “I broke the only rule.” The kid’s voice was muffled in her shoulder.

                “It’s not that bad, honey. I promise it isn’t that bad. Everything’s okay.”

                She hugged the boy a little tighter and ordered, “Take the breakfast up to the library and do some homework while you eat, okay? Get some food in you. You’re going to whither away to nothing.”

                She poked him in the ribs and he snorted, the sound wet and almost like crying. She smiled up at him warmly and ordered again, “Go, Jas. I’ll see you during third period.”

                She shooed him out of the room and Bellamy stood up off the desk, thinking of sneaking out of the room, when she heard his boots thump against the floor. She spun around and the warmth in her blue eyes that was there for Jasper was a burning inferno. She stomped over to him and poked him in the chest, hard. She didn’t shout at all. Her voice was a low burning hiss when she demanded, “What do you think you’re doing? He’s a damn kid. Do you know how old Jasper is? He just turned seventeen. He’s barely older than you’re sister and you’re pumping him for information like a spoiled brat just because I told you that you can’t ask my kids what they’ve done in their pasts?”

                “Look, I was just…”

                “Oh, I can’t wait to hear the explanation of how you took advantage of the kid who reminds me the most of a puppy, eager to please. Of the most vulnerable kid I’ve ever seen, of **my** kid! Go ahead, Bellamy Blake. Enlighten me on why I walked in on you interrogating my son!”

                “I wasn’t interrogating him!” Bellamy growled. “So stop fucking poking me. I asked him a question, he spilled everything else. Maybe you should teach your kid to watch his mouth.”

                As soon as he said it, he knew it was the wrong thing to say to her. He was sure for just a second that she was going to deck him, and he probably deserved it. Instead, she spat out, “Don’t you dare talk about my kid that way. You know what Jasper’s problem is? Idiots like you who have been telling him his whole life that he isn’t good enough. He’s so damn eager to please because nobody has given him anything. So somebody like you, Mr. Macho Male with the broad shoulders and looking like you fell out of a damn action hero movie, of course he’s going to want to impress you! Maybe you should stop lecturing seventeen year olds and look at the 26 year old man who needs to interrogate them!”

                “Look, I was just waiting for you and I got carried away. I didn’t mean to upset the kid. He started talking and I just asked him a couple of questions and it went too far. I’m sorry, alright?” Bellamy rarely apologized and his face twisted with the words. “Just don’t kick O out of ARC.”

                “Why would I kick your sister out of the ARC program? She didn’t piss me off. You pissed me off.” Clarke poked him in the chest again. “You want to know things? You’re so curious about the Murphy situation? How about the Raven situation? Go ahead and ask me. You can ask me anything you want. But you do not fuck with my kid!”

                She wasn’t the type to just accept an apology. Bellamy was understanding that, but the red in her face and the murder in her eyes was pissing Bellamy off. He was trying to reign it in, trying to remain understanding because he really had fucked up. But then she poked him in the chest again and he grabbed her arms and snapped, “Fine then! Tell me how you let a fucking robber and apparently an attempted murderer into your house. Go ahead.”

                “You know how I did it, I took a fucking chance on a kid that was lost and confused, and he stabbed me in the stomach. And he wasn’t the first one to do something wrong once they got into ARC. He was just the first one to actually stab me. But if I get five Murphys or five Ravens for every ten kids I bring in, five kids who want to hurt me in some way, fine. That’s absolutely fine. Because I’ll still be helping five kids. There will be five kids who know how to apply for jobs and scholarships and grants, who have clothes to wear to an interview, and who know that they’re worth something in this god damn world that just wants to spit on them every time they fall down.

                “Yeah, Jasper and Monty were running drugs out of the school. But they’re also the fourteen year olds who knew enough about chemistry to safely cook the shit. Atom boosted cars, and he can fix anything you hand to him. Miller and Monroe are my little pickpockets, but they care so much about each other that they’d tear apart the world for each other. Dax, one of the kids that is in college now, was blackmailed by a cop into joining a fight club, but now he’s a criminal justice major in college. And Raven,” Clarke’s voice choked on her name. “Raven loved everybody so much that she stole for her mother and now she’s in the aeronautics program at her college. Harper was strung out when I found her. She needed an escape, and now she’s in college to be a park ranger. My kids are filled with flaws, and sometimes they’re little shits, but they’re my kids and I love them. So don’t you dare talk bad about them for one second, Bellamy Blake!”

                “Holy shit I wish I had somebody like you when I was a teenager.” It came out before Bellamy even knew what he was saying. “Probably wouldn’t have had to join the army to get my shit together.”

                And just like that the fight went out of Clarke’s eyes. Her eyes softened and she said softly, “It’s not too late for somebody to show you that you’re cared about, Bellamy. Octavia tries. She wants to take care of you as much as you want to take care of her.”

                It felt too intimate at that moment. She was too close and her eyes were too soft when they were focused on him. He said shortly, “It’s my job to take care of Octavia. Not the other way around.”

                “Well, if you ever want to talk about it, you know where I live Bellamy Blake. And my doors are open on more than the weekends.”

                “Isn’t that how you got stabbed?” he said harshly.

                “That’s how I got stabbed and that’s how my fiancé cheated on me with one of my seventeen year old students. I never learn,” she chuckled darkly. “Get out of here, Bellamy Blake. My class starts soon.”

                She pulled away from him and walked over to get her food off the desk she left it on before moving to the board to start writing. He was on his way out the door when she called his name out again. He turned to look at her and she informed him, “I’m still pissed at you. Don’t go near any of my kids again.”


	4. Everybody is Pissed at Bellamy Blake

                He got home from work at midnight, and the house was dark, which meant that Octavia was in bed, or that she’d snuck out again. She’d been doing that less since joining the ARC program because she said Clarke didn’t give you coffee if she thought you’d gotten less than six hours of sleep, and ‘Ms. G’ could tell if you were lying. He went into the house preparing to check O’s room before he got a shower, but the living room light clicked on before he could make it to the stairs. His baby sister was sitting in the arm chair in her pajamas, glaring at him.

                “What the hell are you still doing awake, O?” he demanded. “You have to be up at six in the morning. Come on.”

                “You pissed off Ms. G, Bellamy?” There was pure ice in her voice and Bellamy sighed, running one dirty hand over his face.

                “Look, I just went into talk to her. I didn’t know Jasper was going to…”

                “Don’t you dare. Jasper and Monty told me everything at lunch today. Jasper is so scared that Ms. G is going to unadopt him that he was almost crying!”

                “You sit with people at lunch now?” Despite the situation, Bellamy grinned.

                “Well yeah, but if you keep fucking up I might not be able to! I don’t know how you can fix it but you better figure it out because I can’t deal with this! I went and talked to Ms. G and she promised that I’m still in ARC but you’re not welcome at the house anymore, Bell. She’s pissed.”          

                “She can’t keep guardians away from the house!” Bellamy objected.

                “No, she can’t. You’re still allowed at the house, but you’re not **welcome** there anymore. You can show up, but she’s going to give you the cold shoulder. Jasper said that she still doesn’t talk to Finn after what he did, and Jas said you’re just a couple steps below Finn right now.”

                “What the hell did this Finn guy do?” Bellamy sighed in exasperation.

                “He was the guy who cheated on her with her student. It was legal in the state because he was 23 at the time and Raven was 17. Jas and Monty say they’re still together. That Finn moved out of state with her so he could be closer to her college. Jas says Ms. G hasn’t been this mad at anyone since then. Not even when that kid stabbed her,” Octavia informed him.

                Bellamy ran his hand over his face again and promised, “I’ll figure it out, alright? I promise. Just go to bed.”

                “Fine, but you better fix it soon. Jas says that Ms. G is the type to hold a grudge.”

                “I’ll figure it out, O. Just go to bed,” he repeated. She nodded tersely at him and stomped up the stairs to his room. He fell into bed without showering and got a quick one in the morning before he took O to school.

                When he dropped her off, she leaned in the window to hiss at him again, “Figure it out, Bell.”

                And it was just his luck that he saw the goggled kid walking towards the school, just a few cars down from where he parked. He jumped out quickly and shouted, “Hey, Jasper! Hey I want to talk to you.”

                Jasper spun around and glared at him. He waited for Bellamy to reach him before he growled, “No. Mom is already so mad. I like being at her house. I like staying with her. She takes care of me. And you’re going to make her question whether I should be there or not. I’m not telling you anything.”

                “I’m not asking anything about the kids!” Bellamy said quickly, holding his hands up innocently. “I’m just trying to apologize to Clarke. I just want to know how to apologize.”

                “Start by not harassing my kid first thing in the morning, asshole.” Clarke’s voice sounded from behind him. When he turned around, Clarke was standing with a twenty in her hand and a look of utter contempt on her face. “Jas, you forgot your lunch money and you never answer your cell phone. Do you ever charge the thing?”

                She brushed past Bellamy to tuck the money into Jasper’s hoody pocket and press a kiss to his cheek. She whispered, “I am never going to kick you out of my house, Jasper. You’re my son. Even if you are only nine years younger than me. You’re mine and I love you. Now go to class.”

                He grinned and nodded happily before he walked into the building and Clarke spun on Bellamy. She looked around the parking lot and stomped over to him to hiss, “You think harassing my son is going to get you anywhere? You want to apologize to me, Bellamy Blake? Maybe start by not doing the same dumbass shit that has me pissed off at you in the first place.”

                “Got a dirty mouth on your for an art teacher, Ms. G,” Bellamy sank into sarcasm, the only thing that didn’t make him uncomfortable when the tiny blonde looked like she wanted to murder him, a reflex left over from high school.

                But it only made her step closer so she could snarl, “Listen here, you asshole, if you really want to apologize to me, you’ll leave that puppy dog of a boy out of it. You want to save your ass with me, then you need to show me that you’re serious about this shit. You lead by example! You don’t see that? Octavia doesn’t have parents, Bellamy, and as much as I wish that wasn’t true, it is. Do you know what happens to kids that experience that much trauma in their early lives?”

                Bellamy stared down at her in shock. O didn’t talk to anybody about what happened with their Mom and Dad. About their dad disappearing for years at a time until one day he was suddenly at their door and Bell was already in the army and didn’t have a damn clue. About the murder-suicide that probably would have been a double murder-suicide if Octavia hadn’t snuck out after school to go smoke pot. She was the one who found the bodies. She was the one who dealt with it. Fourteen and already dead inside.

                “She’s doing her part of the bargain, Bellamy. She’s working on hers. She knows the ARC program is good for her and she hates that it is, but she’s making the best of it. So why don’t you buck up and do the same? You want to prove to me that you’re sorry, act like it!”

                With that, she stomped towards the Prius that she drove on the days she didn’t work on the school, when Jasper drove her Lincoln to school. Bellamy stared after her in shock and she glared at him before she climbed in the car.


	5. What's the Good News

                “Okay, what’s the good news this week?” Clarke asked with a grin as she passed the mashed potatoes to Jasper. They’d gone on an outing to buy new clothes last week and it was their relaxing weekend at home. They wanted to swim but the October air was too chilly for it, so Clarke filled the upstairs room with paint balloons for the next day.

                “I got a B on that English test,” Jasper announced, earning a congratulations from everybody except the big kid named Lincoln that came in for gang related offenses.

                “I finally finished the scholarship essay I was working on. Ms. Carter said it was really good,” Miller said simply.

                “I got accepted to cosmetology school. Still thinking about that or the military though,” Monroe added, looking sadly at Miller.

                “I finished that chemistry project I was working on. I might win the science fair this year,” Monty said proudly. “And I got it to stop exploding.”

                “Fixed the problem in shop,” Atom offered.

                “Lincoln, you’re up,” Clarke prodded gently, as he was situated between Monty and Octavia. “House rule.”

                “Nobody got shot on my block this week,” Lincoln said slowly and he was greeted with the welcoming grins from the table around him.

                Octavia waited patiently for all eyes to be on her. She’d turned into the social butterfly since joining ARC. In two months, she’d gone from refusing to help anyone, to sharing in the responsibilities of the ARC. She was really taking to body painting, although she was only allowed to practice on mannequins, and she was bargaining with Bellamy to get him to sign the papers so she could move onto real models. She was doing better in classes, she agreed to let Clarke pay for a therapist once a month, and she was over her crush on Atom. When all attention was on her, she announced, “Bell quit his job at the bar so he can take online classes. He’s cashing in on his GI bill, finally! He said that when I graduate, he’ll apply to go to the same college as me to finish his bachelor’s!”

                “That’s amazing, all of you,” Clarke said, even though her eyes were on Octavia. “I’m very proud of you all.”

                “You’re up, Mom,” Jasper prodded. He’d needed more reassurance that she wasn’t going to ‘unadopt’ him since she’d taken in Lincoln.

                “Well, this week the school and the state licensed me. We’re officially a recognized rehabilitation program!” Clarke said cheerily.

                Dinner was great and, afterwards, Octavia slipped downstairs to the kitchen where Clarke was cleaning up with an envelope in her hand. She laid it on the table and informed Clarke, “My brother told me to give this to you, Ms. G. He said you were right.”

                “Thanks, kiddo. Go have fun now.”

                Clarke hugged her as she raced by and then made her way over to the table to read what the irritable Bellamy Blake had to say about her being right. The letter read,

                _Clarke/Ms. G/ Mom, whatever the kids are calling you right now, you were right. I do need to show Octavia how to do this. She told me you got her a therapist, so I’m going to see one too. The army’s actually paying for it, so that’s good. I’m taking college classes now too. I don’t want her thinking she can just get some vocational diploma and get by on life working at a beauty salon. She’s worth more than that. I’m going to work on getting her out of this damn apartment complex too. Maybe we’ll be living up by you in a few years. And I asked around about the Raven thing, none of your kids, of course. I’m sorry that happened to you. For what it’s worth, your ex is a fucking idiot for leaving a woman like you. Thanks for everything you’ve done. Let me know when you’re not mad at me anymore and I’ll buy you coffee and Taco Bell. I didn’t find that out from your kids either. The Taco Bell is across the street from the auto shop I work at and I see your car there almost every day._

                Clarke paused to laugh and poke at her stomach. The six am runs kept the Taco Bell pounds away, but her secret was found out. She continued reading. _I just want to talk, find out some more about you. Get to know why you do what you do. You’re an incredible woman. Don’t let it go to your head._

-          _Bellamy Blake_

                Clarke laughed again and folded up the letter. That Sunday, she handed Octavia a sealed envelope in return when she dropped her off. Bellamy opened it to find only three sentences.

                _Look up Wells Jaha and the Charlotte murder- that’s why I do what I do. My ex is a fucking idiot whether he left me or not. Coffee sounds great- you’ve got my number to let me know when._

-          _Clarke Griffin/Ms. G/Mom/Whatever the kids are calling me today_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter so that I can have longer chapters later!


	6. Steak, Caviar, and Taco Bell

                “Taco Bell, Ms. G, really?” Bellamy laughed as he sat down at the corner table where Clarke already had a burrito spread out in front of her.

                “Jas got me hooked on it when my fiancé cheated on me and moved out,” Clarke said casually. “The two of us decided that we were just going to celebrate all the time. I’d only adopted him a couple weeks before I found out, and we were trying to get his weight up, because he was so malnourished when he got to me. So we just ate fast food all the time. I gained like twelve pounds. We called it my ‘baby weight’ since I just had a son.”

                “I have about thirty questions from that one bit of knowledge, and I don’t know where to start with any of them,” Bellamy laughed.

                “Taco Bell makes me happy. As does seeing somebody turn their life around. I seem to remember you saying you wanted to know why I do what I do. If I tell you, will you spill all your secrets too?”

                “Octavia hasn’t told you all of them yet?”

                Clarke shrugged. “It’s better to hear both sides of the story. The way I see it, there’s no way you’re this dashing, amazing superhero who rode in on a white horse and saved the whole day.”

                “That’s not how it happened,” Bellamy said quickly.

                “That’s how she sees it. You’re her big brother. You’re her hero. And she’s lucky. Not all the kids get so lucky to have families that want to change while they change.”

                Bellamy blushed and looked down to unwrap his taco so he wouldn’t have to meet Clarke’s eyes. He changed the subject, “You know, this probably isn’t even real meat in these things.”

                “Oh it’s definitely not real meat in these things. But I like them. It reminds me of a simpler time, when I first got Jas and the first time that I was just really happy since Finn left me. If I didn’t run every morning, I’m sure I’d weigh 300 pounds.”

                “You’d still look great.” Clarke raised her eyebrow at Bellamy and he looked like he wished he could swallow his words, but she ignored it.

                “So did you look up Wells Jaha and Charlotte Wilson?”

                “The little girl that killed the man, yeah, I looked it up,” Bellamy replied. “That was really messed up.”

                “He was my best friend,” she cut him off before he could say anything else. “We were juniors in college and my dad died the year before. He was the one who got me through that, and my parent’s divorce when I was a Senior in high school. I knew him my entire life and he was just gone in the blink of an eye. He beat me home and we were going to have a party to celebrate our parents, since his mom died when we were kids. We were going to celebrate their lives. I was driving down the next day and I got the call when I was fifteen minutes out of town.”

                Clarke paused to take a deep breath. “He was leaving a diner, and a little girl tried to rob him, and it went wrong. She killed him and I was so damn mad at her. You know, this little girl took my best friend from me, my rock. I stayed in town, waiting for the trial, and I went in there ready to hate that person. I went in there ready to rally for a life sentence. But it was a little girl.” Clarke’s voice softened. “She was only thirteen, and she was so damn thin I could see every bone in her face. She was starving when she tried to rob him, Bellamy. The kid was shaking in her boots. She’d never had a damn thing in the entire world and she was trying to survive. She cried all the way through the trial, and she was just so alone. It took me a couple months, but I started going to see her in the detention center, and I’ve never stopped. I go up twice a month, on Tuesdays.”

                The hard line to Clarke’s mouth faded into a soft smile. “She’s a great kid. Good at math, bad at social studies. She wants to be an accountant, and that cracks me up. I send her money every now and then so she can get stuff from commissary, but she always buys stuff for the younger kids. She says that she wants to be like me. It makes me laugh. She and Jas consider each other brother and sister, even though I would have had to have been nine when Jas was born and eight when she was born. He goes up with me when he doesn’t have school and they absolutely love each other. If I never get to have biological children, I don’t think it will matter when I have those two.”

                “They sound like good kids. I know how important it is to have a sibling. Octavia was a blessing when she was born, even if she was the most annoying thing in the world.”

                “What are you? Eight years older? Nine?”

                “Ten. I just turned twenty six in May. How about you princess?”

                “The grand twenty six as well. Last month. Jas says I don’t look a day over twenty three, but I don’t trust his compliments.”

                “You should,” Bellamy said with a wink.

                Clarke warned, “You’re still on thin ice, Blake.”

                He laughed and Clarke popped the last of her burrito into her mouth. She ordered, “Since you’re being the interrogator, spill. What’s your favorite trouble Octavia has gotten into?”

                “What?”

                “Your favorite trouble,” Clarke persisted. “The thing you know you’re not supposed to laugh at, but you can’t help it. Jasper’s is that he put a rotten fish in Kane’s office after Kane screamed at him and Monty for an accidental explosion in the chem lab. When I got the call, I actually had to ‘accidentally’ hang up because I was laughing so hard.”

                “Ms. Griffin,” Bellamy said in a fake shocked voice, “I’m appalled.”

                “Oh shut up, Blake. Spill. What’s your favorite?”

                “This guy grabbed her, thinking she was some easy kid to harass, and she broke his nose. When they asked her about it, she told them that it couldn’t have been her because she was too small to break somebody’s nose. They even had her on tape doing it. They showed her the tape three times and she just told them that couldn’t have been her.” Bellamy laughed. “I didn’t teach her very many good things, and one of those bad things I taught her was to deny, deny, deny.”

                “Jasper got caught holding the beaker of chemicals responsible for an explosion and said it wasn’t him and dropped it. He melted the linoleum in the science wing of the building. I don’t even know how he got hold of the chemical,” Clarke chuckled.

                “Does it ever matter how or why they do what they do? Only that we have to make sure they quit doing it.”

                “That’s what I’ve been doing since I finished college,” Clarke laughed. “What time do you have to go back into work?”

                “One o’clock. They thought I was crazy when I told them I was going to the Taco Bell across the street. We had better meat in the Army ration packages.”

                “Hey, don’t insult the beefy bean burritos. I live off these things.”

                “You would think you’d have better taste. You’re telling me you don’t eat caviar and steak everyday?”

                “That’s what I have for breakfast,” Clarke teased. “Now, even though you didn’t reciprocate my deep information with information of your own, I have to get going. I have a client lined up today for a painting. Like I said, rich people love to be painted.”

                “I’ll see you Friday, princess,” Bellamy said his goodbyes.

                Clarke called over her shoulder, “I’m serious about you staying away from Jas. You give him anxiety!”

                “I’m going to fix that!” he replied.


	7. The Best for Bell (and Ms. G)

                “Did you know my brother and Ms. G ate lunch together twice this week?” It was the first thing Octavia said when she sat down at the lunch table, moving Monty over so she could squeeze between him and Lincoln.

                “Yeah, they had Taco Bell and then Bellamy made her eat at that diner down the street because he says Taco Bell will kill her one day,” Jasper replied casually as he peeled apart the sandwich Clarke made so he could eat the meat first. Clarke insisted on putting lettuce and tomato on it even though he never actually ate the lettuce and tomato.

                “You knew and I didn’t?” Octavia squeaked. “How did that happen?”

                “He lives with her,” Miller said quietly and pragmatically while he picked at Monroe’s chips.

                “I live with Bellamy!”

                “Clarke doesn’t keep secrets. Ever,” Jasper replied. “Plus, why would she? She has lunch with Monty’s mom all the time. And Monroe and Miller’s new foster parents took all of us out for dinner a couple days ago. Our parents, and guardians, like to know how we’re doing. They like Clarke and they like talking to her. Maybe Bellamy just jumped on the band wagon.”

                “My brother doesn’t jump on band wagons,” Octavia snorted. “Bellamy likes two people in the entire world. Me, and himself. His ego’s the size of a dump truck.”

                “Well, Clarke has a way of making people not be themselves,” Monty informed her. “Look at us. We were delinquents, now we’re ARC kids.”

                “Still a delinquent,” Atom chimed in.

                “Barely,” Monroe snorted. “Octavia, what’s your point in all of this?”

                Octavia shrugged and said, “I just think my brother likes her, and I want my brother to be happy.”

                “Sorry to burst your bubble, O,” Jasper said softly, “but Clarke doesn’t date. She hasn’t dated since everything happened with Finn. Her life is us now.”

                “That’s a sad fucking life,” Octavia retorted. “Come on, Jas. You love Ms. G. You don’t want to see her sad and alone.”

                “She’s not sad, or alone,” Jasper argued. “She has us. Trying to force Clarke into a relationship isn’t going to make her happy.”

                “I’m not talking about forcing her,” Octavia argued back. “I’m just saying that Ms. G and Bellamy had lunch twice this week, and my brother came home and made me lasagna, which means that he was thinking about Mom, which means that he was talking about Mom.”

                Pasta was cheap and easy to steal when they were young, and when their mom forgot to buy groceries, Bellamy would get what he could and make lasagna because it would last them a few days. Whenever he was thinking about their life growing up, he always made pasta.

                “She makes everybody want to talk about their lives,” Lincoln replied, shrugging so that his elbow brushed against Octavia’s shoulder.

                She glared up at him, and then around the table at the other delinquents. She said stubbornly, “I’m just saying. It wouldn’t be an awful thing for the two of them to get together and be happy, now would it?”

                “Don’t play match maker, Octavia,” Jasper warned. “Clarke’s got a needle point focus. She doesn’t like people meddling in her life.”

                “I’m not saying I’m going to play matchmaker,” Octavia grumbled. “You guys are just a bunch of sticks in the mud.”

                “Hey, you have somebody that loves you, and cares if you make it home at night,” Jasper warned, pointing his plastic fork at her. “Some of us don’t have anyone except Mom, so we try to make sure that we take care of her as much as she takes care of us.”

                “I’m not trying to kill her,” Octavia growled again. “I’m trying to help her find love.”

                “O, you know what happened with Raven,” Monty sighed. “I know you think we’re being stupid, but we’re not. I don’t know if Clarke has ever gotten over it. We don’t want to drag it back up.”

                “I don’t know what happened,” Lincoln said slowly.

                “Okay,” Jasper sighed and Miller and Monroe rolled their eyes in synchronization. They’d been there for the entire incident and they’d heard Jasper talk about it a thousand times. “Three years ago, it was me, Monty, and Raven in the program, right before Miller and Monroe joined us.”

                “Got arrested,” Miller interrupted.

                “Got arrested,” Jasper allowed. “Raven was with us and she was fun. She was really smart and she was nice and everybody loved her. Clarke was working on getting all the paperwork ready to adopt me, so I was living in the house in the boy’s wing, and the girl’s wing was under construction at that time. Something about the walls, I don’t remember.”

                “They were adding walls so that there would be more rooms, but smaller rooms. Clarke wanted to take on more people,” Monty corrected, rolling his eyes at his best friend.

                “Yeah. That’s right. And Raven was staying upstairs in Clarke’s hall. She didn’t have the rule about the separation back then and her room was in the very back. She was busy all the time so she was tired all the time, but she always smiled and brought us lunch,” Jasper reminisced. “Sometimes, if she forgot, she’d call Finn and he’d bring it, or he’d drive for her on Sundays. Raven lived the furthest out, so she got dropped off last. When Finn drove, I didn’t ride in the van. I stayed with Clarke so we could fill out the paperwork to adopt me together. I think it started back then. Sometimes he would get back late and he would tell Clarke he stopped to get ice cream or dinner and it was okay, because Clarke loved us and wanted to spend her money on us. It was just like her to smile at him and tell him that he was amazing. She always told him how lucky she was to have him.”

                Jasper paused and looked down at the table where he was still picking at the sandwich in front of him. He said slowly, “I was on my way to the kitchen one night to get a cup of water when I walked through the living room and saw them making out on the couch. Everybody else was sleeping and we were going to go into town the next day to go to the movies. I waited until Monday morning to tell her, before I got out of the car to go into school. The office told me that she called in sick that day, and when I got home, Finn’s stuff was gone. He was gone. For a while, Raven still came around. I think it was really hard on Mom, because she reminded her of everything that was wrong with the situation. She refused to treat Raven differently, but I think the rest of us were probably mean to her.”

                “Damn right we were,” Monroe spoke up from where she was drawing a tribal pattern up Miller’s neck, the black of the ink seeming only like shadows on his dark skin. “Loyalty’s worth more than a quick fuck.”

                “When Mom found out that Raven and Finn were still seeing each other, I think it broke her a little more,” Jasper continued. “I found her crying a lot, but she’d always pretend that she wasn’t and we would sit in the living room and eat Taco Bell and watch stupid movies. I didn’t find out until later that Finn blamed Mom adopting me for him cheating on her. He said she wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, that she was too busy for him. Mom put me, she put us, over him, and he didn’t like that. And it broke Mom a little. She hasn’t even gone on a date in the past three years. Raven dropped out of ARC, but Mom kept sending her a stipend until she graduated, because Mom still loved Raven, even after what she did. We do our best not to have that happen again.”

                He looked steadily over at Octavia and she nodded. Monty changed the subject to the upcoming trip into the city for ice skating. In the November weather, the ice hadn’t completely frozen over, but Clarke knew an indoor rink that they could go to after Thanksgiving. After lunch, she was on her way down the hallway when Monty jogged up to her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around and making her draw her fists up before she recognized the jaggedly cut bangs and wide eyes.          

                “Jesus, Monty. Do you want to get your nose broken? Don’t grab a girl like me! I grew up in some rough neighborhoods for fuck’s sake,” Octavia warned.

                “I know, I know. I just wanted to say that Jas doesn’t mean anything by the warnings. He just worries about Clarke. She’s all he has anymore. But, if you really want to see your brother and Clarke interact, bring him to the Thanksgiving dinner at Clarke’s house. She does it every year for all of us. ‘Special people’ are invited. Miller and Monroe are bringing their new foster parents, I bring my parents and my brothers and sisters, and sometimes Atom brings a girlfriend. You should bring Bellamy.”

                “I will. And if you think like I do, if you see the way I know my brother is, you have to help me, Monty,” Octavia suddenly begged. “I’m in ARC now, Bell’s doing those online classes, even though he joined late, and things are going good. I want my brother to have a great life. He gave up everything for me. Just like Ms. G has given up everything for you guys. You’ll see it when they get together, that they’re perfect, and, when you do, you have to help me convince Jas to help us get them together.”

                “It’s not just Jasper, O. Me and Miller and Monroe and Atom are all worried about her,” Monty sighed.

                “I know you are,” Octavia said quickly. “And, if I’m wrong, I’ll drop it, alright? But, just see what you think.”

                “Fine. But convincing Jas is going to be impossible.”

                “Nothing is impossible, Monty. I’ve been a juvenile delinquent long enough to know that. If you want something enough, you can always find a way to get it.” She grinned, her blue eyes lighting up brightly and Monty rolled his eyes in return.

                “Don’t push it, Octavia. We’re getting out of that life, remember? I’ve been a functioning member of society for almost four years now!”

                She started walking backwards as the warning bell rang and she sent a wicked wink his way. She replied, “Of course I won’t tell Ms. G about your alcohol experiment going on in the basement of the school if you help me.”

                “Blackmail is not okay, Octavia!”

                “See you later, Monty!”

                With that, Octavia spun around and disappeared into the crowd. Monty sighed in defeat and headed to class.


	8. Thanksgiving Dinner and Harry Potter Blackmail

                “Hey, Bell.”

                “Hmm?” He didn’t take his eyes off the textbook in front of him, trying to locate the damn quote so he could type it into the paper, cite it, and turn the stupid thing in before the deadline, despite the fact that he’d just finished his eight hours in the auto shop.

                “I’ve been thinking about something.” Octavia was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, her eyes on her older brother at the kitchen table.

                “What’s that, O?”

                “What are we doing for Thanksgiving?”

                His eyes left the page and flew to his little sister, who was chewing on her lip and giving him her big blue eyes. He asked, “What do you want to do this year, O? Too cold up here for camping. We could go to the movies or go into the city for a bit. Maybe watch movies and eat take out. Whatever you want.”

                They had never actually had a Thanksgiving together. When Octavia was born, and their father left, Aurora Blake didn’t know what to do and had stopped functioning altogether. They were always missing just enough to survive so that Bellamy had to go out and steal, and a twelve year old, no matter how skilled, could not fit a Thanksgiving turkey under his shirt, nor could he prepare it. When they were little, Thanksgiving dinner consisted of chicken flavored Ramen, or pasta if he could steal it. When he got older, it was sliced turkey sandwiches and some microwaved mashed potatoes. Then, he left for the army and Aurora gave up on taking care of Octavia and, by the time he came back, there was too much trauma, too much blame, to start a tradition. He didn’t know how to sift through talking about their mom, who Octavia could only remember as a body on the floor, so they could figure out their past, and where they were going with their future. So their tradition was to avoid Thanksgiving like crazy and do something completely non-Thanksgiving like instead.

                “Maybe we could do something more traditional. Ms. G is having a dinner at her house for anybody who needs it and all the parents and guardians are invited. She calls it a dinner for the special people in our lives and we’re allowed to bring whoever we want,” Octavia said quickly. “And I want us to go.”

                “Are you sure Ms. G wants me at the house?” Bellamy checked. “We’ve had lunch a few times, but that doesn’t mean she wants me around the kids yet. She said Jasper’s still afraid of me.”

                “Don’t worry about it,” Octavia promised. “She holds this dinner for the ARC kids every year and all of us are invited. Please, Bell. We’ve never had an actual Thanksgiving dinner.”

                “Alright, O. We’ll go. I’ll even find my dress pants. Maybe a tie. Slick back my hair. You never know.” He searched for the smile he knew was coming.

                “Do **not** slick back your hair, you big dork! That looks so awful on you! I mean, really! Who does that anymore, Bell?” Octavia shrieked and Bellamy grinned.

                “Fine. No slicking back my hair,” he agreed. “But you’re not wearing jeans, or I will slick it back. We’ll get you a new dress.”

                “We can’t afford a new dress, Bell.”

                “I’ve got some money saved up and, since I’m not bailing your little ass out of jail all the time, we can spend it on a new dress,” he said solemnly. “No arguments.”

                She crossed the room to hug him tight and she murmured, “Thank you, big brother.”

                “You’re welcome, little sister. Now let me do my homework and you go do your own!”

 

                “Jas, get the door. I wish people would stop ringing that damn doorbell! We’re having it taken out!” Clarke called from the kitchen, where she was bent over staring into the oven.

                “You say that like twice a month, Mom,” Jasper called over his shoulder on his way to answer the door.

                “Well this month I mean it! It’s got to go!”

                Jasper laughed and ushered the Greens in. Monty, his two baby twin sisters, his preteen brother, his five year old brother, and his parents. With five kids in the house, Monty’s locker pharmacy was never to hurt anybody, but to raise money to keep his family going. Mrs. Green asked, “Is she in the kitchen?”

                “Since five am. I don’t know where she gets the energy. I’ve already taken two naps today. I think she steals it from other people,” Jasper joked.

                “Well, we brought pumpkin pie and some green bean casserole. I’ll go give it to her. There were some people coming up the driveway behind us. Miller and Monroe and somebody else,” Mrs. Green said airily, already on her way into the kitchen.

                “Game on?” Mr. Green asked, holding the twin girls.

                “Main room,” Jasper answered.

                “Monty, kiddo, don’t blow anything up. See you for dinner.” Mr. Green smiled at his son and disappeared into the main room with the five year old trailing behind him, leaving Monty’s preteen brother to stare at them expectantly. When they didn’t say anything to him, he grumbled, “You guys were more fun when you sold drugs” and stomped off towards the game room.

                Jasper and Monty looked over at each other and shook their heads, simultaneously saying, “Nah. We weren’t.”

                Jasper opened the door and shouted out to the gathering cars, “Let yourselves in! Do not ring this doorbell again!”

                He slammed the door and Monty suggested, “Maybe you should take the doorbell apart for her as a Christmas present. Or install a tv so they don’t have to ring it.”

                “Monty, my man, I like the way you think.”

                They walked away from the door, talking about how to best install cameras across Clarke’s property, and Miller and Monroe stumbled in the door as they walked away, their new foster parents (who were on the adoption track) following behind them with mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. Atom and Lincoln were next, both of them living in the same neighborhood and catching a bus up to Clarke’s house because they weren’t sure until the last minute that they would be there. Octavia and Bellamy brought up the rear, Bellamy holding boxes of sushi because neither of them knew what to bring to a Thanksgiving dinner, but they’d eaten sushi for Thanksgiving for the last three years, so they might as well introduce everybody else to the tradition.

                Octavia pressed a kiss to his cheek before she ran off with the excuse that she had to find Monty and that he needed to go to the kitchen. Bellamy shrugged, happy that his sister had friends before he went into the kitchen where Clarke Griffin was stirring a pot full of stuffing with an older Asian woman sitting at the table flipping idly through a sketchbook.

                “Hey, I brought sushi,” he said as a way of greeting her and pulling her attention away from the stuffing.

                “That sounds great! Octavia told me she wouldn’t know it was Thanksgiving without sushi,” Clarke laughed. “Come in here and help us cook or go join John in the living room. Leave the kids alone.”

                “I’ve told you that I’m going to apologize to Jas and make up for that,” Bellamy warned as he joined them in the kitchen. He put the sushi on the counter and extended his hand to Mrs. Green. “Bellamy Blake.”

                “You can call me Na. Nobody can pronounce Ngoc Anh,” Mrs. Green replied with a laugh. “What did you do to piss off the always calm Ms. G here?”

                “Mostly stupidity,” Bellamy replied. “I’m working on it.”

                “I’m not pissed anymore, Na,” Clarke replied. “And, Bellamy, the poor boy is terrified of you.”

                “Well, I’m working on that. Octavia told me to ask you what I can do. Anything. Go ahead.”

                “We need a Quidditch coach,” Clarke answered quickly.

                “A what coach?” Bellamy repeated.

                “Look up the rules online. That’s what Jas and Monty have been wanting to do and there’s a few local places that have teams. Octavia, Miller, and Monroe agreed to do it They have some local kids who would join the team too,” Clarke explained. “They need at least seven players, but the local league suggests ten, just in case.”

                “Fine. Alright. I’ll be the Quidditch coach,” Bellamy agreed.

                Clarke laughed and commanded, “Help me. You too, Na. Just because I’m bossing Bellamy around doesn’t mean you escape from it.”         

                “Of course. In four years, there is no escape from the orders.”

                Bellamy, Na, and Clarke finished dinner and called everybody in. Her usual dinner table had been expanded to fit the sixteen of them. Jasper and Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia, Miller and Monroe and their foster parents, Atom and Lincoln, and the six Greens. Food was passed amongst shouts and taunts and laughing. Clarke paused it once everybody had food in them to make everybody say what they were thankful for, and everybody guessed numbers for breaking the wish bone. Octavia and Lincoln won and O winked at him when she made her wish. Then, Clarke announced, “Everybody is welcome tomorrow for leftover lunch, and this weekend we’ll start the Quidditch team. Bellamy’s going to learn the rules, but you guys might have to help him out a little.”

                “Bellamy’s going to coach us?” Jasper choked out.

                “Just call me Coach Blake,” Bellamy said with what he hoped was a winning smile.

                “I’ll be around to help, Jas. We can fight the Black Friday shopping tomorrow morning to get the equipment. Maybe we can go holiday shopping while we’re at it,” Clarke said warmly, showing her son that everything was safe, and that she trusted Bellamy. “You guys can teach Bellamy, but you’ll have to wait to practice outside until the weather warms up.”

                Jasper’s eyes slid to Monty, then to Bellamy, and he nodded slowly. “Alright, Mom. That sounds good.”


	9. Harry Potter, Plans, Bubble Baths, and Beer

                “Okay, so three chasers, two keepers…”

                “One keeper,” Jasper interrupted.

                “Alright, one keeper. Two beaters, and a seeker. What’s the seeker’s point again?”

                “He catches the Golden Snitch.”

                “Or she,” Monty corrected Jasper.

                “And a Golden Snitch is…”

                It was Saturday and Bellamy was sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling down notes from Jasper and Monty and from the ipad in front of him with the official US Quidditch rules opened in a PDF. Jasper and Monty had given up their free art time to help him learn Quidditch, and it was as frustrating for them as it was for him.

                “The Golden Snitch is kind of like a winged golden ball that flies around. You get fifty points when your team catches it, and it immediately ends the game,” Jasper explained slowly.

                “That brings up about a billion other questions.”

                “Alright, boys. Vacate the kitchen,” Clarke entered in her hideous Christmas sweater and reindeer socks. Octavia had informed Bellamy that afternoon when he came to the house that Ms. G had a tradition of ugly Christmas sweaters and that is was kind of a tradition for the ARC kids to each throw in a few bucks to buy her a new one for Christmas every year. Jasper said she started wearing them a couple days after Thanksgiving and really only had to repeat a couple sweaters to wear an ugly Christmas sweater every day until Christmas. “Miller and I are making cookies for free art time.”

                “Can I help?” Monty asked quickly, abandoning his best friend to Bellamy.

                “Yeah.” Miller was the one who gave permission, since it was his free art time and the rules of free art time meant that you didn’t have to share it with anybody if you didn’t want to. “We’re going to make reindeer cookies.”

                “Cool!”

                “Jas, Bellamy, go to the living room. Jas, you have all the Harry Potter movies. Watch one with Bellamy before dinner and explain some stuff to him. But just one before dinner. No marathons, alright, kiddo?” Clarke ruffled Jasper’s hair on her way to the cabinet where baking stuff was.

                “Just one, Mom,” he promised, standing up and nodding towards the doorway for Bellamy to follow him. The boy was keeping Bellamy at a distance, a far distance, and Bellamy couldn’t blame him. He stood to follow Jasper into the living room and Clarke danced forward and stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

                When he looked down at her, she grinned up at him and said sincerely, “Thank you so much. It means a lot to him, and it means a lot to me.”

                “It’s not a big deal. What free art is my sister up to?” he changed the subject gruffly.

                “Mannequin painting,” Clarke answered. “You should check them out sometime. They’re pretty cool.”

                “When she wants me to see, she’ll ask me. I’m going to go see what Harry Potter’s all about.”

                “Don’t let Jas rope you into more than one movie!” she warned. “He can be charming when he wants to.”

                “He is your kid.”

                Clarke laughed and shooed him towards the living room before turning back to Monty and Miller, who were watching her with passive unreadable faces.

 

                “Okay, you were right.”

                Octavia looked up from her lunch as Jasper and Monty sat down together. They both looked defeated and she asked, “Right about what?”

                “Bellamy might be a good thing for Clarke,” Jasper sighed in irritation. “He might be dark and brooding and angry, but he’s not a bad person.”

                “Ha!” Octavia stilled when Lincoln stared down at her in a scolding way and she sighed, “I told you! We need to get them to go out on a date. They still have lunch like, once a week. I think Bellamy’s gained like five pounds since they started eating lunch together. They need a date.”

                “Yeah but she’s with us on weekends,” Jasper argued. “And you know she’s not going to cancel the weekends with us.”

                “And she’s not going to leave the house if Jas is there,” Monty joined in.

                “And Bellamy won’t leave the house if I’m there,” Octavia agreed.

                “So we need to not be there.”

                Miller, Monroe, and Atom joined the table and Miller asked, “Where are you disappearing from?”

                “We’re trying to get my brother and Ms. G to go on a date. An honest to god real date,” Octavia replied.

                “That’s a good idea because…?” Monroe prompted.

                “Because we want them both to be happy!” Octavia cried out. “Don’t pretend you didn’t see the giggles and laughs and Bellamy grinning at Thanksgiving! And he agreed to coach Quidditch. Bellamy doesn’t even know what Quidditch is.”

                “Yeah, isn’t he still trying to apologize for the interrogation of Jasper?” Atom pointed out.

                “Well there’s another thing! Bellamy doesn’t apologize. Ever. He likes Ms. G. Even if he doesn’t know it yet!”

                “Okay, okay,” Miller agreed to calm her down. “He likes Clarke. What are you going to do about it?”

                “I have an idea.”

 

                “So I look up at my dad and I just told him, ‘I didn’t know that it would start a fire.’”

                Bellamy choked on his sandwich and covered his mouth so he could laugh without showing her the food in his mouth. He swallowed and teased, “You were a hellion, weren’t you?”

                “Oh yeah. I never boosted a car or anything, but I was always in trouble. Dad called me his little rebel because I did things like setting all the frogs in the science lab loose, or liberating the mice at the local high school, twice. I broke a boy’s nose once because he hit Wells. I took Mom’s car on a two day road trip to a rally. She almost killed me for that one. I just….I just always wanted to help things. And I didn’t care if it got me in trouble on the way,” Clarke finished with a shrug, tearing into her sandwich again. It had been an uphill battle to coax Clarke away from Taco Bell and towards a local diner that served real food and real meat.

                “And now you help the rebels,” Bellamy chuckled.

                “You know I love the rebels.” Her smile was bright and even the hideous green and blue sweater with Santa’s sleigh flying across her chest couldn’t take away how gorgeous she looked with her blonde hair still held up by paintbrushes and a stain of yellow paint under her jawline.

                He was about to reply, to tease her, when her phone rang with the ring tone he recognized as Jasper’s. A whooshing sound from a tv show about a doctor. She pulled it out of her purse and answered it with, “Jas, you know you’re at school and shouldn’t be calling me.”

                “And you know it’s lunch break, Mom. Can I stay with Monty on Wednesday?”

                “It’s Monday, Jas. Why are you asking me two days early?”

                “So we can plan an epic sleepover. And we need your permission before we can ask Na. Can I?”

                “Yeah, okay, kiddo. I’ll see you for fourth period.”

                “Love you, Mom.”

                “Love you too, Jas.”

                She hung up as Bellamy’s phone beeped with a text from Octavia. ‘Wednesday I’ll be at Monroe’s house. Her parents are good. Ask Ms. G.’

                “Monroe and Miller’s new foster parents are good people, right?” Bellamy asked without looking up from his phone.

                “Yeah. They’re on the adoption track.”

                He texted Octavia back, ‘Sure, but I’m calling to check up on you twice.’

                ‘Fair enough. Do something fun while I’m not at home, old man.’

                When he looked up at Clarke again, she was taking long pulls from her coke and he asked himself again how she maintained her figure when it seemed she only ate fast food for lunch on the weekdays. He asked, “What did Jas need?”

                “Wanted to go for a sleepover on Wednesday. Was that O?”

                “Yep. She’s staying over at Monroe’s house on Wednesday too.”

                “That means Miller’s probably going to be with Monty and Jas then. Good,” she said appreciatively, the usual soft smile on her face when she talked about her kids.

                “So where does that leave you on Wednesday night?”

                “Hmmm….” She pretended to think, her blue eyes rolling up towards the ceiling. “I’m going to order pizza, watch a rom com, and then take a long, hot bubble bath. What about you?”

                “Oh definitely the bubble bath,” he joked, earning himself another laugh from her. “But seriously, probably just having a beer and watching tv.”

                “You could always come over and have a beer,” Clarke invited. “I can order an extra-large meat lovers. I think I have the newest Marvel movie. Whatever Jas bought the last time I let him buy movies.”

                “Are you inviting me to your bubble bath, Ms. G?” Bellamy taunted.

                “Yep. Just so I can drown you in it,” she replied. “See, I’ve been waiting all this time to get even with you and I’m finally going to get to drown you.” 

                “Well now I know your plan so it’s definitely probably not going to work now.”

                She laughed again and ordered, “After work on Wednesday. We’ll have pizza and watch movies because, to be honest, I’m not sure either of us know what to do without the kids in the house.”

                “Bubble baths and beer,” Bellamy replied. “Of course we know what to do without the kids in the house.”         

                Clarke grinned at him and looked at the time on her phone, sighing like she had every day for weeks. She said slowly, “I have to get back to the school. My next class starts in fifteen minutes.”

                “Same time next week, right, princess?”

                “Sure, asshole. Same time next week.”

                Bellamy grinned up at her and watched her gather up her stuff and leave the diner.


	10. Do You Want to See Something Pretty

                His wet hair froze his head in the cold air and he was sure he was sure there was ice in the curls while he knocked on Clarke’s big front door. She hated the doorbell, something he knew Jasper and Monty were working on fixing for her for Christmas. But, by the third time he knocked, he was more than ready to ring the doorbell. Just as he reached for it, the door was yanked open to reveal Clarke wrapped in a big pink robe with her hair piled on top of her head, the curls that dangled around her face wet at the ends.

                “Hey, sorry. I took my hot bubble bath after all and I thought I’d be out by the time you go there, but I guess I lost track of time. You should have rang the doorbell.” She waved him in as she stepped out of the doorway, slamming out the cold.

                “It’s alright. I wasn’t out there for very long,” he promised.

                “Good. I’m going to go get dressed. Make yourself at home.” With that, she spun around and rushed up the stairs, pausing only to shout down to him, “Order the pizza for me. Anything with meat on it. My purse is on the kitchen counter. Just grab the money out of there.”

                “You trust me not to rob you?”

                “You’ll get thirty bucks and some old Spearmint. I wouldn’t suggest it.”

                With that, she disappeared up the stairs and left Bellamy alone in the house, for the first time since Octavia had joined the ARC program. When she came back down fifteen minutes later in a red and white striped candy cane sweater and black tights with Santa hats on them, he was sprawled out on the couch. She kicked his legs aside and joined him, pulling one knee to her chest and wrapping her arms around it to rest her chin on her knee. She asked, “What are we watching?”

                “Nothing right now. Pick something. The pizza will be here within twenty minutes. We can watch infomercials until then.”

                “I have been thinking that I need a new straightener that also serves to pluck my eyebrows,” she replied with a quirk of her eyebrow.

                “Maybe you can get me one too. It can be my Christmas present,” he replied, sitting up so he could tug on her foot and straighten out her leg, making her fall forwards a little before she caught herself.

                “And who says you’re getting anything?” She kicked at his hand and he caught her foot to tickle her through the red and green Grinch socks she was wearing.

                “I do. I could just nick something from your house,” he offered and she laughed.

                “Oh no, Bellamy Blake. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I buy a big ass safe.”

                It was his turn to laugh and he tugged on her toes through the sock. He informed her, “All your Christmas spirit makes me want to barf.”

                “And your lack of holiday spirt makes me want to barf. And I’ll have you know that I also own a Hanukah and Kwanzaa sweater and socks. And I own sweaters that have snowmen on them, not just holiday sweaters. I’m completely inclusive.”

                Bellamy snorted and turned on the couch so that his legs weren’t the closest thing to her anymore and he sprawled out across the couch again, still pulling on her toes. He handed her the remote and she warned him, “You are far too comfortable for a guardian, Bellamy Blake. Most of the parents don’t get this at ease with me.”

                “Most of the parents don’t care enough about their kids to have lunch with you once a week.”

                She grunted and flipped through the channels on the tv, leaving it on a Christmas movie about love and fake relationships. When Bellamy grunted, she nudged his shoulder with her toes. They watched the ridiculous movie until the doorbell rang and Clarke looked at Bellamy expectantly. He grunted, “You are bossy when the kids aren’t around, Ms. G.”

                “Go get the door. You know where the money is. It’s my day to relax, Bellamy Blake.”

                When he came back with the pizza, it was Clarke who was stretched across the massive couch that wrapped around the living room- big enough to fit her and all of her kids on it. He dropped the pizza on the coffee table and went back to the kitchen to get the case of beer out of the fridge. He said appreciatively, “Bottles.”

                “Only way to drink it.”

                “Would have pegged you for a champagne or wine type.”

                “Only when I want to celebrate the night by being hammered,” she laughed.

                They ate their pizza and taunted one another with a camaraderie formed over a month of having lunch together. When they’d finished their pizza and a couple beers, Clarke suddenly blurted out, “Wanna see something pretty?”

                “I’m looking at something pretty,” he flirted shamelessly and she rolled her eyes.

                She stood up and swayed for a second, reminding Bellamy that she didn’t drink and that she was absolutely miniscule. When she was steady on her feet, she held out her hand expectantly and, when he took it, dragged him to his feet. Grabbing her beer with her free hand, she proceeded to drag him up the stairs to her section of the house, and into a dark room.

                “We’re a little old for Seven Minutes in Heaven, don’t you think?” he teased, earning himself a smack to the chest.

                “Shut up.” She flipped on the light and, when he got over being temporarily blinded, he looked around the room. He found himself surrounded by canvases and easels and art supplies. Paintings and drawings hung from the walls. Paintings of the house and the kids and outdoors. Octavia hung from the wall on the left. She was in a kitchen, flour flying through the air around her, her smile was bright and her eyes glowed. The other kids were up on the wall too. Miller and Monroe poking at each other, Jasper catching a grape in his mouth, Monty tinkering with the toaster, Lincoln staring solemnly at something outside of the picture, Atom smirking.

                “These are….wow….” Bellamy breathed. “I’ve never seen your work before.”

                “These are the ones I don’t sell. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them. I just want to keep them. Wanna see the kids that already graduated?”

                “I’d love to.”

                Clarke pulled him further into the room and showed him a set of paintings off to the side. A blonde boy in a ROTC uniform with a rifle to his shoulder, a long haired blonde girl about to jump off a diving board, and a dark haired Hispanic girl bent over a car engine with Jasper standing beside her, his goggles perched high on his head. Clarke said calmly, “Dax. Harper. Raven.” But her voice caught on Raven’s name and he asked, “Still hurt?”

                “I don’t care about Finn,” she admitted before she took a long swig of her beer. “I just miss her. I miss my Raven. She was just a kid. Just this gorgeous kid who nobody ever loved and then somebody did love her and start taking care of her and she just got lost in it.”

                “You don’t think she loves him?”

                “She loves him. She loves him way too much.” Clarke’s voice was thick with tears she was trying to hold in. Bellamy stepped closer to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He pulled her to his chest and tucked his chin on top of her head.

                “You could call her. Just talk to her.”

                “She swore me off a long time ago. She swore us off a long time ago,” Clarke replied sadly. “You know, I can keep hold of the girl who murdered my best friend, the kid who sold meth out of his locker, the kid who stole a car, but I can’t get a kid who got caught stealing a dollar fifty can of soup from a Dollar Store to call me back.”

                She snorted, a wet sad sound that made Bellamy tighten his hold on her and move his hand up to the back of her neck so he could caress the nape of her neck. He murmured, “Keep trying. I know that people can’t ignore you forever. Look at us. I got you to go to lunch with me, and now I’m drinking in your house while you cry. That’s progress, isn’t it?”

                She snorted again and they stayed like that for a few minutes before she pulled away and wiped at her eyes, drying her cheeks. When she looked up at him again, he took in her red rimmed eyes and informed her, “You look awful.”

                “Oh shut up and drink your beer so you can get as tipsy as I am,” she scolded.

                “You just want to get me drunk so you can paint me like one of your French girls.” He meant it as a joke but her eyes lit up and he said quickly, “Clarke, no.”

                “Not paint!” she objected. “Draw. Please, please, please let me draw you.”

                “Come on. Why do you want to draw me?”

                She stared up at him, her eyes completely solemn, and then she said slowly, “Because you’re pretty.”

                “I’m not pretty,” he argued.

                “You are so pretty,” she cooed, her smile curling up into a grin.

                “Who’s the asshole now?”

                “Oh shut up. Like you don’t know that you’re a gorgeous man. Come on. You’ve got an entire ego thing going on.”

                “An entire ego thing? What does that even mean?”

                “You winked at the waitress last week and she took ten dollars off our tab!”

                “I didn’t know she was going to do that,” Bellamy protested.

                “Oh whatever, Mr. my-hair’s-always-perfectly-messy-and-I-look-too-good-to-be-true-in-a-t-shirt-and-jeans. You know that you look good.”

                “And apparently so do you.”

                “Like that’s a crime,” Clarke snorted. “Everybody who sees you knows you look good, Bellamy Blake. If they don’t, then they might be blind.”

                “Same to you, princess.”

                “So let me draw you. Not naked,” she promised. “I just want to draw you. Pretty please.”

                “Fine,” he finally agree. “Where do you want me?”

                That was how he ended up on Clarke’s couch again, sipping at his beer and slowly getting more and more drunk while she sat on the floor in front of him with a sketch pad. He insisted on laying like Rose from the Titanic, and she insisted that if he didn’t keep his damn pants on she was going to cut him open. “I was a premed major before I went to art education, Bellamy Blake!”


	11. Blizzards and Blanket Forts

                Two hours, and their entire case of beer later, Clarke was turning the sketch book over to show him the picture of him lounging on the couch, his face turned towards her and his lips pursed like he was just about to start talking. One arm behind his head and the other raised to hold the beer bottle, as if he wasn’t sure if he was going to drink it or keep talking.

                “Holy shit, Clarke.” Bellamy rolled off the couch and landed heavy on the floor before he crawled over to her to grab the sketchbook. “This is amazing. I look like this? I mean, fuck, I knew I was attractive, but even I’d have a go at me…”

                “Oh, you’re such an asshole.” She snatched the sketchbook back to him laughing and she swatted him on the arm before snagging the beer that he’d amazingly avoided spilling and finishing it for him. She announced, “Last one of the night and don’t think you’re driving home, Mister. You are way too drunk.”

                “You’re just trying to get me in your bed,” he accused.

                “Nope. We’re going to make a blanket fort in the living room and…”

                Clarke’s phone interrupted her plan with the sound of whooshing and she jumped up to grab it off the coffee table. “Hey, Jas. Are you okay? What’s going on? Do you need me to come get you?”

                “I’m fine, Clarke. Are you…are you drunk….at nine o’clock at night?”

                With that, Clarke looked to the clock on her television and started giggling. Bellamy arrived at the house at six. They hadn’t even considered the repercussions of their actions. She laughed, “Yeah, kiddo. I think I am drunk at nine o’clock on a Wednesday night. Is that too much?”

                “No, no, you deserve it,” Jasper’s voice was reassuring and strong. “I just wanted to call and tell you that it’s basically a blizzard outside and that school got canceled tomorrow, so I’m going to stay with the Greens until the roads are clear enough to come home, alright?”

                “Yeah, kiddo. The most important thing is your safety, alright? And if you don’t feel safe driving home, let me know and I’ll come get you.”

                “Mom,” Jasper’s change to her preferred title didn’t escape her notice, “I’m fine. Have fun tonight, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

                “I love you too.”

                “Octavia texted me too,” Bellamy announced from where he was laying on the floor. “Did you know that it’s only nine o’clock?”

                “Yep.”

                “Wanna go make a snowman in the blizzard?”

                “Yes, let’s do that.”

 

                “Clarke…”

                “What?”

                “Your head is directly on my bladder and I have to pee really bad.”

                Clarke greeted the morning by snorting so loud it echoed around her house. She sat up so Bellamy could wriggle out from underneath her. They’d fallen asleep the night before laying perpendicular on the floor, her head on his stomach and his fingers pulling through her blonde curls. Bellamy rushed to the bathroom, calling over his shoulder, “I’m going back to sleep when I get back. It’s only eight o’clock. So don’t you dare move!”          

                Clarke laughed and Bellamy was back within a couple minutes. He nudged her over and lay down with his head on her stomach instead of the other way around. He grabbed her hand and pushed it into his unruly curls, ordering, “Your turn.”

                She carded her fingers through his curls before both of them fell asleep again. They woke up around noon with Bellamy’s face buried in her stomach and his arm slung across her hips. His other arm was strewn out across the floor, his fingertips barely brushing hers where she was strewn out like a starfish. She groaned and asked, “Don’t you have work today?”

                “Boss texted me this morning. Roads still aren’t clear so work’s canceled today. He’ll make up for it later when he’s got me working double shifts to take care of all the people who wrecked their cars today and last night,” Bellamy replied.

                “Looks like you’re stuck here a bit longer. Come on. Help me make some brunch.”

                “You could make it for me.” He lifted his head and rested his chin on her rib cage so he could meet her eyes.

                She smacked him in the side of the head and ordered, “Get up. You’re definitely helping me, asshole.”

                “Usually when I wake up with a pretty woman, they’re all too happy for make me breakfast.”

                “Yeah, well I’m sure they’re also more satisfied than I am.” With that, she pushed him off her body and rolled him onto the floor. She stood up and stretched, her pajama top riding up before she pushed it back down. Bellamy was dressed in a pair of large pajama pants that she’d kept for guests, and her kids. She had an entire room of just clothes in different sizes and types. She’d gotten him the clothes he used to play outside the night before from the same room.

                He laughed and followed her into the kitchen, stretching and rubbing at his shoulder. He said in awe, “I can’t believe we don’t have hangovers.”

                “Yeah, well I did force water down your throat for the last hour of us drinking. Did we really make it through a case of beer and a bottle of wine?”

                “Yeah. I can’t believe I got drunk off that. I’m getting old.”

                She snorted and replied, “Yeah, you look old. Get the milk out of the fridge and the sausage out of the freezer. I want to make biscuits and gravy.”

                They ate breakfast and settled back on the couch to watch more television until Octavia texted him at four. ‘Jas is going to pick me up when he drops Miller off. I’m going to Clarke’s house to use her wifi to work on a paper.’

                “Octavia’s on her way here in about twenty minutes,” Bellamy informed Clarke.

                “Alright. I wonder if Jas wants real food for dinner or if Chinese take-out. What do you think? How does Chinese take-out sound?”           

                “Sounds good. You’re not worried about the kids finding out I stayed here last night?”

                “Why would I be?” Clarke asked from where she was fiddling with the coffee maker.

                “Because they might get ideas.”

                “Nah. I don’t sleep with people on the first date,” she smiled teasingly at him over her shoulder.

                “Is that what this was? A date? So do I get a kiss at the end of it?”

                “Who says I even like you, Bellamy Blake?”

                “You did sleep with me in a blanket fort last night,” he taunted. “If that’s not something, I don’t know what is.”

                She turned, bracing herself on the counter to smile up at him. She informed him, “I share a blanket fort with my seventeen year old son.”

                He stepped closer to her so he could bracket her into the counter, locking her in with his hands on either side of her waist. He warned, “I want to kiss you.”

                “I want to kiss you too. But I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” she admitted, the smile sliding off her face.

                “Why not?” He slid his hand up her wrist, up her arm, up her shoulder, and settled his palm on her cheek.

                “Because you have a sister to take care of, and I have seven beautiful kids that live with me every weekend and one that lives with me all the time, and we are too busy to do all the couple stuff that normal people do. Plus, it would look weird for me to date the guardian of one of my kids,” she explained before she pulled her lower lip into her mouth.

                “And who says I wanted to date you, princess?” he teased.

                “You are such an asshole.”

                “I know I am. And I know it wouldn’t be as complicated as you think. You don’t favor any of the kids, even the one who lives with you. So nobody can accuse you of favoring any of them. Especially not my sister,” he argued.

                “And the other thing. The whole ‘I’m way too busy to date anyone’ thing.”

                “Family dates,” he replied. “Single parents do it all the time. We’ll watch movies with Octavia and Jasper. We can take them to the movies, I can mope around your house and pretend that I’m not here just so I can watch my sister and harass you.”

                “And if it goes badly? If something happens and we can’t be in the same room with each other anymore? I can’t lose another one of my kids. I can’t put my kids at risk again, Bellamy.”

                “I’m not some jackass interested in seventeen year olds, Clarke,” he murmured, leaning in to press his forehead against hers. “I care about my sister more than anybody in the world. If something happens between us, I could suck it up and still be around. I’m not asking to marry you and move in with you. I just want to kiss you, and keep seeing you like this.”

                “Yeah?”

                “Yeah. What do you think?”

                “I think I don’t know if you’re feeding me a line of bull or not,” she admitted. “It’s been too long since anybody showed interest in kissing me for me to know if I’m dealing with another liar.”

                “Well, you’ve seen me with Octavia, and you’ve seen me fuck up and try to make it better. Do you trust me?”

                She stared up him for a long minute and replied, “I want to.”

                He nodded down at her and leaned forward to press a kiss to her cheek. He murmured, “I still want to kiss you.”

                “How about you give it a while? See how things go, what the kids think of you and me being around all the time, and, if everything goes well, we can kiss all you want.”

                “How about all you want?” he asked with a soft smile.

                “That sounds good too. Thank you for understanding, Bellamy.”

                “Anything you want, princess. Now let’s get to cooking. It is definitely past time for breakfast.”

                He kissed her on the forehead and pulled away completely just as a car pulled up outside. Clarke commented, “Octavia and Jasper must have been closer than they said.”


	12. Not Another Spirit Quest

                They went to work in the kitchen and soon after, Jasper, Octavia, Miller, Monroe, and Monty arrived in the kitchen. There were shouts of ‘Cool, Mom’s making brunch’ and ‘Biscuits and gravy!’ and ‘Best thing for a snowday!’ The kids shrugged out of heavy coats and Monty informed Clarke, “We didn’t want to sit at home all day on a snow day. You don’t mind, do you, Clarke?”

                “Not at all, hun.”

                “Mom, why is there an army of snowmen outside the house? Like, there are literally twenty four of them. We counted. One of them has boxers on its head.”

                Clarke looked up at Bellamy across the kitchen where he was cutting apples and he started laughing before she could explain. Octavia grinned at Clarke’s blush and demanded loudly, “Bell, did you stay here last night?”

                “Uh, yeah,” he admitted, looking at Clarke to make sure it was okay to admit it. “I came over to watch some movies and hang out, since neither of us know what to do when you guys aren’t at home, and then the snow started and I couldn’t drive home, so I camped out in a blanket fort in the living room. Because when you guys aren’t around, Clarke and I are children. And we also built twenty four different snowmen with different accessories.”

                Octavia waggled her eyebrows at Monty and Bell reached out to swat her on the arm. He glared at her, the siblings speaking with their eyes and the smirk that adorned Octavia’s face. Jasper was the first to speak. He looked over at Clarke meaningfully and said casually, “Maybe we can go out today and build some snowmen too. And we’ve been talking about taking Bellamy on a spirit quest if he wants to go on one.”

                “What’s a spirit quest?” Bellamy asked at the same time as Clarke cried out, “Absolutely not, Jasper! You know what happened on the last three spirit quests!”

                “Come on, Mom!” Jasper plead. “Lincoln, and Octavia, and Bellamy haven’t been on spirit quests. And when we took Atom on a spirit quest, we didn’t have an adult with us. Bellamy is an adult.”

                “Jasper, I had to call the police last time! And when you and Monty went on your last spirit quest the fire department said that the property damage was the most they’ve ever seen in one area!” Clarke argued.

                “What’s a spirit quest?” Bellamy asked again.

                “We go out in the woods and we all talk about what we want from life and where we’ve been in life,” Monty explained. “We try to help each other discover where our spirit might be a little at unrest, and help each other set goals for the future.”

                “And property damage has happened before?” he checked.

                “Just a little property damage,” Monty replied. “They were exaggerating. Turns out that one of us had a goal to build a pool. We thought we were building a pool on Clarke’s property. We weren’t. Some things went south. It’s not a big deal.”

                “Monty Green, it is definitely a big deal,” Clarke warned. “I can’t have you guys getting hurt or lost or…”              

                “Mom,” Jasper’s voice was soft, “we’re not going to have any of that happen because we’ll have Bellamy with us. He’s an ex Marine. Come on, Mom.”

                “It doesn’t sound so bad,” Bellamy cut in. “I can navigate our way in and out, I won’t let them burn anything down, and I know a lot of first aid in case anything does happen. What’s wrong with a spirit quest?”

                “Bellamy Blake, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Clarke warned.

                “Of course I do. The kids are inviting me on a hike in the woods where we discuss our lives. That sounds great. I’d love to do it,” he protested.

                “Hallway, right now,” she sighed.

                As soon as she’d tugged him out of the kitchen, Octavia grinned a wolf like grin at Jasper and sang softly, “They’re too cute.”

                “Oh shut up.”

                In the hallway, Clarke yanked him away from the kitchen and demanded, “Do you know what you’re getting into?”

                “Yeah, we’re going to hike into the woods and talk about our lives for a little bit, they’ll get cold, and I’ll walk them back.” He shrugged.

                “Okay, even though I’m not supposed to know because other than Octavia and Lincoln, I’m the only person in this house who has never been on a spirit quest, they don’t just talk out there, Bellamy. This tradition started when Finn still lived with me. He was this ultra hippy park ranger and he’d pack up a tent and take the kids out for a day. Even though he never admitted it to me, they’d drink a little bit, talk, and then find their journey out there. But, when he left, the adult, if that’s even a word I can use for him, left too. So now the kids go out, drink a little, and usually ask each other questions that are way too private, or they get lost, or they blow up a water main in Mr. Johnson’s farm because they’re trying to dig a pool. You don’t know what you’re getting into.”

                “Okay, calm down,” he said soothingly, grabbing her shoulders. “I won’t let them get drunk, they’re definitely not going to get lost, and I’m not letting them destroy property. I promise. Come on. This is the first time Jasper has specifically asked me to do anything with him. Please, Clarke. I promise I’ll keep the kids safe. I swear that we’ll be back before dark. I promise.”

                “Bellamy…”

                “Please,” he interrupted.

                “Fine. But if my kids aren’t back before dark, and if they’ve so much as started a forest fire, you are never sleeping in this house again. And you can think twice about any snuggling in blanket forts,” she warned.

                “Everything’s going to be fine.”

                “I’m holding you to that, Bellamy Blake. Come help me finish brunch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments since I updated. These past couple days have been rough with my brain not doing what it's supposed to do so the encouragement really got me through.


	13. The Spirit Quest: Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very heavily dialogued. I tried to break it up and make it as readable as possible but let me know if there were struggles.

                “You’re sure we have to go this far into the woods?”

                “We need to be pretty far out. Just a little more and we’ll build the fire,” Jasper promised.

                Atom and Lincoln had joined the group after brunch. Clarke drove out to get them while Jasper and Monty packed everything they’d need for a spirit quest and Octavia grilled Bellamy on what happened overnight while he cleaned the kitchen. Miller and Monroe bounced around the house, their quiet voices calling up the stairs to Jasper and Monty while they hunted for warmer clothes. With Clarke waving from the doorway, Bellamy had marched seven delinquents, including his little sister, out into the woods with only the word of one delinquent that it was a good idea.

                “This works, Bellamy. Everybody, clear your snow away and spread out the tarps.” Monty and Jasper had both packed giant camping backpacks that they left Octavia, Lincoln, and Bellamy in the dark about. They insisted that it had to be a surprise for the people who were on their first spirit quest.

                They all spread out the tarps in a circle and Bellamy cleared away the snow in the middle so Jasper and Monty could build a small fire. They’d just settled down when Monty and Jasper started pulling out the mason jars of clear liquid. Bellamy objected, “Woah, woah, woah! Does Clarke know you have those?”    

                “It’s a spirit quest, Bellamy. She knows we take a few shots on them. It loosens the tongue,” Jasper replied. “Don’t worry about it. We’re not going to get in trouble with Mom. You’re not going to get in trouble with Mom.”

                “Yeah, sure. That’s not vodka though. Where the hell did the two of you get moonshine?”

                “Well, we didn’t buy it,” Monty said edgily. “Don’t worry about it. Just take a drink and pass it around. When it makes it around the circle three times, we’ll get started.”

                Bellamy opened his mouth to protest again and Octavia elbowed him in the side. She hissed, “Come on, Bell. It’s a spirit quest. You have to do it.”

                “Fine. But nobody mentions this to Clarke,” he warned.

                “Nobody tells Clarke anything that happens on a spirit quest,” Jasper promised. “Now drink.”

                Monty passed the first mason jar to Bellamy and the other two went to Lincoln and Octavia. Bellamy took a long drink of the jar and nearly spit out the minty moonshine. He barely swallowed it and Monty asked, “Are you alright?”

                “I’m fine. I just didn’t expect to be drinking pure alcohol,” Bellamy coughed.

                “There’s mint in there too.”

                “Holy shit. What’s in this one?” Octavia asked beside Bellamy. “I’ve drank Everclear that was less toxic than this!”

                “That one’s caramel apple, in spirit of the season. The one Lincoln has is cinnamon,” Monty said proudly.

                “I’m going to stop asking questions,” Bellamy grumbled even as he passed the jar to Octavia so she could pass hers to Lincoln and they could continue around the circle. It took a few minutes before the one Octavia had been drinking made its way to him and the caramel apple in it didn’t soothe the harsh bite of the alcohol any. Nor did the cinnamon. When both jars made it around three times and he’d taken nine drinks of the alcohol, he didn’t feel the cold anymore, but he did feel a lot more tipsy.

                “Do you guys get drunk so that you have to answer honestly?” Bellamy demanded, trying to pretend there wasn’t a slur in his voice.

                “Nope,” Jasper lied. “But let’s get started. Octavia, ladies first.”

                “Of course, you asshole. Monroe, did you have to go first when you did it?”

                “Yep,” Monroe answered simply, pulling the last of the caramel apple moonshine from where Monty was trying to tuck it back into his backpack.

                “Sexist dicks.”

                “Octavia, come on,” Bellamy sighed.

                “Fine. Go ahead.”

                “Okay. Do you want to start with the best or worst thing you’ve ever experienced?” Jasper asked softly. “Sorry to bring it up. It’s just….it’s part of it. You go through the journey to talk about where you want to go next.”

                “Let’s start with the worst. Um…I found my parents dead in the house we were living in.” Bellamy couldn’t look at Octavia while she talked. He just stared down at his hands clasped together. “Mom wasn’t always the best parent, and Bell was in the army when he came back. I never met him. He disappeared after I was born. Something about three mouths being way too much to take care of. But he came back and Bell was overseas and I wasn’t home a whole lot because I didn’t want to deal with it. Mom just let him back in.

                “I was coming back from a friend’s house when I found them. He shot her in the middle of the living room. It was like he just walked and shot her. He sat down by her body and shot himself in the head. I didn’t even call the police for an hour. I just sat on the couch and stared at them.” Octavia’s voice was thick. “I didn’t even know what I felt. I didn’t know him, but I did know my mom. And even if it was Bellamy that raised me, she was there my whole life, and she was just gone. I hated her for so long for not taking care of us, for not getting us out of that situation, for everything she’d ever forgotten or just didn’t do. And she was just dead. I finally went over to the neighbor’s house and called the cops and they put me in a temporary home for a week until Bell could fly in. And he just took care of everything.

                “He got me out of the house that had eight other kids in it, and he took care of all the funeral arrangements, even the one for our father, even if he just had him cremated. Mom had a nice funeral, even if she didn’t deserve it, and Bellamy filled out all the paperwork to adopt me that day. I hadn’t seen him in like, a year, and I hadn’t gotten a letter from him in two months, but he was just there and he just made everything alright. Even when I kept fucking up, even when I kept making us move around and Bellamy kept having to find a new job in every town we went to, he didn’t talk about getting rid of me. The worst day I’ve experienced is walking in and finding my parents dead, but the best day was when Bell showed up and I’ve never had a day where I was hungry or where I didn’t feel like somebody wanted me around.”

                He could feel the stares of every one of the kids flashing between him and Octavia when he reached out and grabbed her hand from her knee cap. They didn’t look at one another, she just squeezed his hand tight and, finally, Jasper cleared his throat to ask, “Where do you want to go from here, O? Not what do you want to do as a career, you don’t have to talk about college. What do you want to start doing today, tomorrow, right this minute, that will make your future better and brighter?”

                “I want to graduate high school with a good GPA. I didn’t fail any of my classes, but I have C’s right now and the GPA to match, and I don’t want that for me. I don’t want to be stuck paycheck to paycheck for the rest of my life. And I don’t want to move again,” Octavia said firmly. “I want to stay here, in this town. I want to be an ARC kid. I don’t want to get in trouble anymore. I want to show Bellamy the art I’ve been working on, and I want to go visit Mom’s grave in the summer, and tell her everything I’ve done, even if I’m still angry at her. And I don’t want to be mad at the world anymore.”

                Octavia sniffed again and Bellamy’s hand tightened in hers. Jasper promised, “We’ll all do whatever it takes to help you. You only have to ask. Now, do you want to hear Lincoln’s story, or do you want us to summarize our own? We do it in solidarity, if the people who are having their first spirit quest ask it of us.”

                “Let Lincoln decide,” Octavia replied, wiping away the tears on her cheeks.

                “No,” Lincoln said solemnly. “Your stories are your own. We are here to find our paths.”

                “Then you’re up, big guy. Do you want to start with your best moment, or your worst?”

                Lincoln told the story of finding a family in the gang that he grew up in. Of finding a place of protection and a place of home, even if it meant doing things that he wasn’t proud of. He told of the love he felt when he was with his brothers, the love that he hadn’t felt since his grandma died. Then, he told of being caught in a drive-by and nearly losing his arm from the shoulder down. He told them about Clarke meeting him in the hospital and him thinking that she was an angel at first, and how she gave his mom the money to move them out of the neighborhood the gang was in and into the apartment complex across from Atom. He talked about how he wanted to do what Clarke did, how he wanted to help people like them, and how he wanted people to stop looking at him like they were waiting on him to snap their necks. Too soon, it was Bellamy’s turn.


	14. The Spirit Quest Part Two

                “The worst day of my life was when I got the call that Octavia was in foster care, and when I thought they weren’t going to release her to me. The case worker tried to talk me out of it three separate times. She said that a twenty four year old shouldn’t have to worry about a fourteen year old, and, for a minute, I thought about killing her. I’d just found out that both of my parents died, and my little sister, the only person in the entire fucking world that I gave a fuck about, was stuck in a house with six other kids while she waited on me to fly in from Iraq. I took care of her, her entire life, up until I left to join the army when she was eleven, and I hated myself for it. I sent every paycheck home to her. Not to Mom, to her. So she would have food and clothes and school supplies. And it was my fault she was blowing it on pot and booze, because I never taught her how to do anything else.

                “I wasn’t a great teenager. I fucked around a lot, I was shit at school, and the only thing I took seriously was making sure Octavia had food. I never even thought about the fact that I was setting an example for her. The wrong fucking example. Not until I got back and signed all the papers to be her guardian. The best day of my life was when Octavia was born,” Bellamy finished gruffly, not looking over at his sister, even though her fingernails were digging into the back of his hand.

                “What do you want to do from here?” Jasper prompted as if they hadn’t all watched the ritual twice before.

                “I want to get my associate’s degree. Show O that we can conquer the whole damn world. I want to apologize to the people I did wrong when I was a stupid, angry teenager. I want to move out of that shitty apartment we’re living in. I want to take Clarke on a date. I want to look into the future and see a life where I’m not some sad bachelor working in an auto shop. I want a life worth waking up to.”

                “So do you really like my mom?”

                “Jasper!” Monty hissed. “That’s not how we do things!”

                “It’s fine,” Bellamy cut Monty off. “Yeah. I like Clarke. A lot. I’m not saying I want to marry her or anything. But I want to take her on dates, and I want to be a part of her life. As more than the asshole who got in trouble for interrogating her son.”

                “Oh. Well, we promised we’ll help you with your goals. That’s the whole point of the spirit quest. We can get Mom to go on a date with you,” Jasper said with a shrug.

                “No, no, absolutely not. I want Clarke to go on a date with me because she wants to go on a date with me. And I’m definitely not dragging you guys into it. That just screams something that she will string me up for.”

                “That’s a fair point. But we can at least give you our blessing for it,” Jasper said solemnly.

                “Thanks. Now what’s the next step of the spirit quest?”

                “One more round with the alcohol, and then we walk back home and have hot chocolate and cookies.”

                The eight of them stumbled back into the house, trying to be quiet and sober, but it only took one look from Clarke to have the seven kids giggling while Bellamy stared at her solemnly, trying to look ashamed. She sighed, "All of you go warm up. Damn delinquents.”

                But her voice was too warm for any of them to take the growl seriously. Jasper swept her up in a crushing hug that lifted her feet off the ground and sang, “Thanks, Mom.”

                He released her, just so the rest of the delinquents could follow in his footsteps, hugging her tight before lumbering off to the living room. It was just Bellamy left staring at Clarke and she opened her arms with a laugh. “Come on. The rest of the delinquents did it. You might as well.”

                He scooped her up in a hug and lifted her high off the ground, spinning her around before he put her back on her feet but kept his arms looped around her waist. He kissed her softly on the forehead and she smiled before ordering, “Alright, Bellamy Blake. Because you let the kids get drunk, you get to help me finish making cookies.”

                “Even if I’m tipsy?”

                “Especially since you’re tipsy.”


	15. Bell's In Charge Because Mom Is Sick

                Bellamy jerked awake to the shrill shrieking of his phone where he left it on his bedside table. He rolled over and grabbed it with a groan.

                “Hello.”

                “Bellamy,” Clarke’s voice was pitiful. Strained and hoarse.

                “Clarke, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

                “You know the ice skating trip is today,” she croaked out.

                “Yeah, but it’s not until eleven. Are you alright? Do you need to cancel it?” Bellamy sat up in bed and switched on his bedside lamp. It was only six am. Barely light outside.

                “No. No. The kids are too excited about this. I can’t cancel it,” Clarke said quickly and then there was the muffled sound of coughing from the other end of the phone. “Can you do it, please? I know you planned on going anyway, but I’ll give you a stipend for it. You’ll get paid for the whole day, and I’ll pay your portion of the trip.”

                “Clarke, you don’t have to…”

                “Yeah, I…” she broke off in a fit of coughing and Bellamy could hear the crack of the cell phone hitting the ground before the sound of Clarke retching reached him through the speaker. A few minutes later, the flush of the toilet sounded and she came back on the phone to groan, “Yeah, I do. Will you please, Bell?”

                “Yeah. I’ll take them. Are you going to the doctor?”

                “I have to call Monday. It’s probably just the flu though. Don’t worry about it. See you at ten.”

                “I’ll be there.” With that, he hung up the phone and pulled himself out of bed. He yanked on his boxers and jeans and went to the kitchen to start coffee. When Octavia woke up an hour and a half later, she stumbled into the kitchen still rubbing her eyes and asked, “Why did you make breakfast?”

                “Clarke woke me up early this morning.” He ignored the muttered ‘oo-la-la.’ “She’s sick and can’t go on the ice skating trip…” but he caught the look of sadness and worry that passed across Octavia’s face., “so I’m going to go in her place as the official adult. She’s been texting me instructions all morning, even though she should be in bed trying to keep fluids in her.”

                “Calm down, mother hen. Ms. G’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. Besides, there’s a stomach bug going around the school. She probably got it. Always drinking coffee near sneezing kids and stuff. Are these chocolate chip pancakes?”

                “That’s the only kind of pancake allowed in this house and you know it, O. Eat up.”

                Octavia and Bellamy finished their breakfast, dressed, and Bellamy let her drive over to Clarke’s house, despite clutching the seat the entire way there. Jasper greeted them at the door with Atom and Lincoln close behind him. Atom’s usual bored face had a hint of unease in it and Lincoln’s generally passive face was painted with a deep frown, but it was Jasper’s chewing of the fingernails on his left hand that had Bellamy worried. They were almost completely gone and there were bloody stubs left.

                “Hey, Jasper, Atom, Lincoln,” Bellamy greeted. “Looks like you guys are with me today.”

                Jasper looked up at him and said nervously, “I don’t know. Maybe we should just stay home. I mean, it’s kind of chilly out today. And Monty’s not here. It would be weird to go ice skating with one of us missing, right? Darn Monty for picking this week to go on his family vacation. We should probably just stay here.”

                “Absolutely not, Jas.” Bellamy turned his attention away from Jasper’s bloody thumb nail to Clarke at her worst, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Her blonde hair stuck to her head, lifeless and almost greasy. Her already pale skin was the same color as the snow on the ground outside, and she was wrapped in the fluffiest pajamas and the rattiest blanket he’d ever seen.

                “Holy shit, princess. You look like death.”

                The glare she sent him was undermined by the dark circles under her eyes, further proof that she hadn’t slept at all the night before. Her voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper when she said with the most sarcasm she could handle, “Thank you, Bellamy. Jasper, boys, Octavia, you have been talking about going ice skating all month. You’re going. All of you. Plus, Miller and Monroe’s parents are already on their way. Go.”

                “But, Mom, you’re really…”

                “It’s just a little stomach bug, Jasper,” she promised. “Go have fun. I’ll still be here when you get back.”                

                “Mom…”

                “Go, honey. Bell, please take the kids with you. I’m going to go drink Gatorade and sleep.”

                “Everybody, go get your seats in the van. I’m going to check a few last minute things with Ms. G,” Bellamy waved the kids out the door and they all looked back over their shoulders at her. She gave them a smile that was more alarming than comforting, but they left anyway.

                “You’ll call me if you need anything,” he said firmly.

                “Yes, of course I will.” She waved him off but then started coughing.

                He waited for the coughing fit to pass before he informed her solemnly, “That wasn’t a question, Clarke. You will call me if you need anything. At all. It’s only a thirty minute drive. The kids care more about you than they do ice skating.”

                “Go, Bellamy,” she ordered, nodding at the door.

                The trip was loud and Bellamy was clearly out of his element. The kids were loud as soon as he hit the highway, mostly Octavia and Jasper, and his usually dark skinned knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel of the massive van. Every time the wind blew, he felt like the van was going to veer off the highway. Then, at the ice rink, the kids immediately scattered. He tried to keep his eye on Lincoln holding Octavia’s hand while he guided her around the rink, while also watching Jasper where he was eyeing an expensive looking machine off to the side of the rink, and Atom, who was flirting with a girl and looking like he was going to leave with her. Miller and Monroe’s foster parents kept an alright eye on them, but it they had a one to one child ratio. Bellamy was keeping an eye on four teenage delinquents who all had different criminal charges, and who were all equally likely to destroy something on his watch and get him arrested/ruin his chances of ever taking Clarke on a date.

                By the end of the day, he was sure that watching the kids took more off of his life than his years in the military did. He had never been more grateful than he was at the moment he was loading the teenagers into the car, all holding steaming cups of hot chocolate that it took Jasper all of five minutes to spill down the front of his pants and probably damage the poor kid for life. Bellamy dropped Atom and Lincoln off at their houses, trying not to glare at Lincoln when the solemn faced kid smiled at Octavia on his way out of the van. He made his way back to Clarke’s house and followed Jasper in to check on Clarke.

                Octavia went to the bathroom while Jasper went up to his room to change. He called behind him, “Clarke’s room is on the end. Shout for me if you need anything.”

                “Will do. I’ll pull her out in the living room and we can all watch a movie.”

                He followed Jasper up at the stairs and turned towards Clarke’s room as Jasper continued to his own room. He knocked on the door and called out, “Clarke, are you in there?”

                He was met with silence and he knocked on the door and called out again, “Clarke, are you alright?”

                When he was met with silence, he opened the door to her room and peeked inside. The bedroom was dark, boiling hot, and completely silent. He flipped on the light by the door and only took a second to take in the deep green comforter and carpet. Pictures of a young Clarke grinning at the camera stood next to trophies from various events. It was clear that the room had been hers when she was a teenager. He looked away from the trophies and towards the bed, where Clarke was sprawled across the green comforter, her hair dark with sweat and sticking to her face. From where he stood, it wasn’t clear if she was breathing or not. The smell of vomit emanated from the trash can at her side.

                “Clarke!” He raced over to the bed and pressed his fingers to her throat. Her pulse beat slow and steady beneath her clammy skin.

                “Octavia, Jasper!” His shout echoed through the house. “Get your shit together. We’re going to the hospital!”

                With that, he grabbed the ends of the comforter and wrapped them around Clarke tight before scooping her up in his arms. Octavia and Jasper met him at the top of the stairs as he raced out of the room. Jasper demanded, “What’s going on?”

                “She was passed out. I think she’s dehydrated. We’ve got to get her to the hospital now.”

                Jasper and Octavia followed Bellamy back out to the van. Bellamy drove, looking in the rearview mirror almost as often as he looked at the road, just to see Jasper in the back with Clarke’s head in his lap. He tried not to hear Jasper whimpering, “Please be okay, Mom.”


	16. Hospital Wings and Mom Things

                Clarke woke up to the sun burning in through the hospital blinds. The machine next to her beeped steadily and the IV felt heavy in her arm. Across the room, Jasper and Octavia were tangled together, spread out in the uncomfortable armchairs. The hand without her IV was clasped in a dark, strong hand. She looked up into the tired eyes of Bellamy Blake.

                “How…how are you feeling?” he said hoarsely, his eyes darting over to Jasper.

                “Not great,” she admitted. “What happened?”

                “We got back from ice skating, which was kind of my own personal hell, so please never ask me to do that again. When we got back, I went up to check on you and you were passed out on your bed. The doctors said you were severely dehydrated and have the flu. Were you drinking at all?”

                “I kept throwing it back up,” she said weakly. “How did Jas take it?”

                “The kid cried most of the night. O was helpful, but they were both crying. They fell asleep around three. We weren’t even allowed to see you until two, and they were going to make us leave but I talked to the doctor and explained the situation with Jasper. She understood.”

                “Thank you. For everything, Bell.” She squeezed his hand and he smiled wearily at her. “Do you have work today?”

                “No. I usually have Saturdays and Sundays off. They know I take care of Octavia, and I told them that I have a family emergency so I won’t be at work for a few days. I’m going to come stay at your house and make sure you don’t do this again.”

                “Bellamy, you don’t have to do that,” she protested, trying to untangle her hand from his.

                “Yes, I do. Jasper is a great kid, but he can’t do it on his own. And Octavia would die for a chance to spend Christmas in your house. We’ll bring our stuff over tomorrow and we’re going to have Christmas with you,” he said matter-of-factly.

                “Bellamy…”

                “If you don’t want us there, just tell me though. I won’t tell her.” His eyes left hers for the first time since she’d opened them. “We’ll figure it out.”

                “Bellamy, look at me,” she ordered softly. When his eyes met her, she assured him, “I really want you guys with us. But I don’t want to pressure you.”

                “We want to do it,” he promised. “If you want us there.”

                “Of course I want you there.”

                He grinned at her and pulled their joined hands up to his mouth so he could press a kiss to the back of her hand. Just as he put their hands back on the bed, Jasper jerked awake with a shout, his hand flying out to smack Octavia across the chest, waking her up as well. His twitch pushed him down out of the chair he was sprawled across and onto the hard tile of the floor. Clarke sat up to help him and the IV in her arm yanked tightly, making her cry out and then making her head spin with dizziness. Jasper jumped up with a yelp and cried out, “Don’t get up, Mom! I’m fine!”

                With that, he raced to the side of her bed while Octavia rubbed at her collar bone and glared at the over-sized puppy boy. He grabbed Clarke’s hand and his words came out jumbled while he talked, but Clarke only nodded reassuringly at him. “I was so worried. Bellamy found you in your room and when he carried you out, I thought you were dead. God, he must have broken every traffic law ever to get you here, and we were worried they were going to make us wait, but he and Octavia just started yelling at people and they got you in this room and he made sure we had plenty to eat while we waited for them to let us see you. It was like three hours before we were allowed to see you at all, and they said you need to stay in bed for at least another week. You’ll technically be cleared to go back to work when we start school again, but, Mom, I think you need a week and a half, so I already called Kane and Jaha and told them you won’t be back for the first week of school and Jaha said to send his condolences. And your mom was in the hospital but I told her that she can’t come in until you wake up and…”

                “The blonde was your mom?” Bellamy asked, interrupting Jasper.

                “Abby Griffin, now Abby Kane,” Clarke said drily. “What time is it? I assume she’ll be in here as soon as visiting hours start.”

                “It’s eight thirty now,” Octavia said with a yawn, pulling herself up out of the chair and crossing the room to stand beside Bellamy. “You know you had us really worried, Ms. G.”

                “Well, it’s a good think Bellamy was there, wasn’t it,” Clarke said with a smile. “I’ll be fine. You three look like hell. I’m sure I look like a princess. Bell, why don’t you guys go get breakfast and shower, then come back and spring me from here?”

                “I’m fine, Mom. I’m not hungry,” Jasper objected quickly. “I’ll be alright. I don’t need a shower.”

                “But your mom does need to sleep,” Bellamy stepped in. “Come on. We’ll stop by our place, get clothes, then head up to your house and we’ll all shower there so we don’t have to waste a bunch of time running back and forth places. We’ll even bring Clarke food back. Real food.”

                She almost imperceptibly shook her head at Bellamy as her stomach rolled at the thought of food, but she smiled at Jasper and said soothingly, “That sounds good to me.”

                Jasper looked nervous but nodded. Clarke squeezed his hand comfortingly and ordered, “Alright, all of you head out.”

                They stood up and Clarke shooed them away before they could press kisses to her forehead, warning them about germs and ordering them to be careful on the way home. It was only five minutes after they left, and three minutes after she’d closed her eyes, that she felt the blonde hurricane’s presence in the room. She sighed, “Hey, Mom. Long time, no see.”

                “You’d see me more often if you’d return my phone calls.” Clarke opened her eyes as Abby Kane strode the rest of the way into the room.

                “I might return your phone calls if you and Kane would stop trying to shut down the program my father started,” Clarke returned, unable to keep the bite in her voice as her head fell back against the pillows.

                Abby was at her side in a moment, smoothing a cool hand across Clarke’s forehead and brushing away stray hairs. She sighed, “We’re not trying to shut it down, Clarke. We’re trying to help you regulate it.”

                “Yes, because what my kids need is more regulations,” Clarke snorted, even as she closed her eyes to the soothing touch of her mother tucking her hair behind her ear.

                “Well, without regulations and order, everything falls apart. Look at you, sick as can be in here and two of the kids come in.”

                “Yeah, and one of the kids is my son. And the other is the sister of the man who saved me from dehydrating to death, so I think there’s a little leeway with those three.”

                “So the tall dark skinned one is the guardian of one of the kids? He seemed awful worried about you to be a guardian.”

                “How strange that people are worried when other people might be dying,” Clarke said sarcastically. “He’s the one who found me. He took the kids ice skating because I couldn’t.”

                “You trusted him?” Abby’s hand pulled away and Clarke opened her eyes to find Abby’s matching blue ones boring into her face.

                “Yeah. He’s a good guy. Takes care of his sister, is going to coach Jas’s Quidditch team in the Spring, and is just good to the kids.”

                Abby’s lips pursed tightly and she questioned stiffly, “Are you seeing him romantically?”

                “Not yet,” Clarke said with a twist to her lips, bent on taunting her mother even when her stomach rolled with the urge to vomit. “But I’m thinking about it. I think we’d make a cute couple.”

                “ Clarke, that is….”

                “My life,” Clarke cut her off before raising her hand to her mouth to cover a cough. “I made a mistake with Finn. I’m not going to do it again. This is the first time we’ve spoken in months. Pretend like you’re not disappointed in me.”

                “Clarke, I’m not disappointed in you,” Abby sighed.

                “See, I almost believed it right there,” Clarke retorted. “But, alas, if only I were a doctor, or a super successful career woman, I could believe you. But I’ve only renewed Dad’s nonprofit work and made it my life to help others.”

                “You could have done that as a doctor and been much safer,” Abby said, finally turning away from Clarke.

                “There it is. It’s good to see you too, Mom. Now, I’m going to take a nap. You can stay or you can leave.”

                She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of Abby’s footsteps heading towards the door. The older woman paused in the doorway and said over her shoulder, “Clarke, we don’t agree about much, but I do love you. And I hope that we’ll be able to be like we used to be.”


	17. The Wonderful World of Teenagers

                Bellamy and Octavia living with Clarke and Jasper was a test in patience for everybody. Jasper took hour long showers as soon as he woke up at noon, since Christmas break was the only time anybody in the house was allowed to sleep past ten. Bellamy took short, ten minute showers at six am. Octavia took two hour long baths because she’d never had a bathtub the size of Clarke’s in her life, nor the time to appreciate a long bath. Bellamy couldn’t understand either of the kids and would do dishes or mop the floors or run water for Clarke’s tea while they were in the showers, scalding them regularly. None of them had regular tastes in food, or knew how to completely operate the kitchen, and they all insisted that they could take better care of Clarke. By the third day of having Jasper and both Blakes in her house, they found Clarke firmly wrapped in a blanket, hobbling across the driveway in her pink bunny slippers and her coat. It was Bellamy who picked her up over her shoulder, carried her inside, and sat her down firmly on the couch while Octavia, Bellamy, and Jasper stood around her with their arms crossed over their chests sternly.

                “What the fuck were you thinking, princess?”

                “Mom, come on. You’re really sick. And there’s snow on the ground! You can’t be out when there’s snow on the ground.”

                “That was the worst way ever to sneak out! You went right out the front door!”

                “That’s not the point right now, Octavia.”

                “It kind of is.” Clarke’s voice was pitiful. It had only gotten worse since she got out of the hospital, despite having her cold medicine religiously forced down her throat by Bellamy. “The three of you have been stuck up my ass and at each other’s throats so much you didn’t notice when I got up and wandered off. It took me eight minutes to get almost to the car.”

                “Which is why you shouldn’t be outside!” Bellamy cried out. “You just got out of the hospital!”

                “I got out of the hospital three days ago! And all of you are going to get out of the house today. I’m serious. The three of you are going to go watch a movie together or have dinner or anything that doesn’t involve you being in this house.”

                “Mom…” Jasper started at the same time as Octavia and Bellamy said together, “Clarke…”

                “No. I care about the three of you, a lot.” She took turns looking them in the eyes carefully. “But if you don’t get out of this house, I’m going to wait until you fall asleep tonight, and I am going to breathe on each of you. There are only three days until Christmas. Do you really want to spend Christmas as sick as I am now?”              

                “No,” the all mumbled together.

                “Good. Then get out.” With that, she stood up from the couch and started hobbling towards the stairs.

                “Jas, O, go get ready,” Bellamy sighed. “You guys can pick the movie. I’m going to get her in bed and get stuff set up so she can be fine for a few hours.”

                He followed after Clarke and scooped her up bridal style. She warned, “You’re going to get sick if you keep doing this.”

                “I have an impeccable immune system, princess,” he replied, starting towards the steps.

                “Ooh. Four syllables. Are you trying to impress me, Bellamy Blake?” she teased, turning her face away from his suddenly to cough into the crook of her arm.

                “And here I thought being able to carry you upstairs was impressive enough. Guess I’ll have to step up my vocabulary.”

                She snorted and relaxed, sinking into his arms. He scolded her, “I’m going to take the kids to dinner and a movie, and I’m going to trust that if I leave you here, you’ll stay in bed and relax like you’re supposed to. I’m going to be pissed if I get back and find out you were wondering around. You know that, right?”

                “Yeah, yeah. Just have a good time, for me.”

                “Will do.”

                He carried her up to her bedroom and left to get a pitcher of water and a new box of Kleenexes. He left her with her phone to play games on, her sketchbook, and a couple of romance novels that he teased her about before he left. Dinner with Jasper and Octavia was filled with the three of them picking at each other, and Bellamy quickly found that Octavia and Jasper were quick to team up against him, despite him protesting, “Come on, O! I raised you! And I’m your coach, Jasper!”

                Together, they picked the movie and picked up Chinese takeout for Clarke on the way home. The three of them checked on her together and then Jasper and Octavia went to work on their own projects, leaving Bellamy sitting at the edge of Clarke’s bed while she ate. He ranted, “They literally teamed up against me! O and I have been taking on other people our entire lives, and she just abandoned me!”

                “Welcome to the wonderful world of teenagers,” Clarke laughed.

                “But, O and I are partners in crime! We’ve been on each other’s side forever!” Bellamy sputtered.

                “And now she has a friend her own age to be partners in crime with,” Clarke replied softly. “You can be my partner in crime when O is too busy.”

                “I guess you’re an okay consolation prize,” he sighed dramatically, even as he flopped down on the bed beside her, stretching his long body so that his head was on the pillow and he lay parallel to her.

                “I’m the best consolation prize,” she retorted from her spot leaning against the headboard. “Now turn on a movie or something so I don’t have to hear any more of your whining.”

                “You’re lucky you’re sick, princess,” he warned, even as he reached for the remote.

                “Or what? You’d punish me by kissing me?”

                “That’s an idea, but it definitely would only be a punishment for me.”

                She jabbed him in the side with her chopsticks and he yelped before they both laughed.


	18. Christmas Day

                “So all the kids have their presents? No more need delivered?”

                “Bellamy, will you sit down? You’re stressing me out! If you dropped off all the packages at all the houses on the list, then all the presents have been delivered. Now will you sit down so we can have hot chocolate and celebrate Christmas Eve with a Charlie Brown Christmas!?”

                Clarke, Jasper, and Octavia were already seated in various spots on the couch. Clarke was back in her festive wear and able to move around the house freely, despite a nasty cough and still having random body aches. Bellamy said frantically, “What about the turkey? It’s in the oven, right? Or out to thaw? You guys go ahead and start the movie. I’ll just check on that.”

                “Forgive him. He’s never had a real Christmas,” Octavia excused him.

                “Bellamy Blake, get your ass over here and sit down right now,” Clarke demanded, patting the spot beside her.

                He gave her puppy dog eyes but slunk over to the couch and sat beside her, letting her curl into his side and rest her head on his chest, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the kids. Clarke nodded at Jas and said, “Go ahead and start the movie, Jas.”

                Jasper started the movie and Octavia clapped to turn off the lights, a function of the house she was excited to learn about it. The day Jasper taught her the six clap rhythm, she spent the remainder of the day going to various rooms and testing it out because Jasper refused to tell her which rooms were clapper lights and which rooms weren’t. Bellamy relaxed into the couch and murmured into Clarke’s hair, “Do you guys have a ritual for everything?”

                “I read a lot of parenting books when I was working on adopting Jasper, and one of them stated the importance of traditions and stability. It’s my way of solidifying that we are a family and that he does belong with me,” Clarke whispered.

                “Oh.” Bellamy glanced over at Octavia and Clarke slid her hand into his.

                “Just because traditions are non-traditional, doesn’t mean they aren’t valid,” she assured him. “You’re one of the best guardians I’ve seen. You love her.”

                Bellamy squeezed her hand and chided softly, “Pay attention to the movie, Clarke. Jeez.”

                She elbowed him in the side and Jasper sighed, “Come on. Bellamy, if you’re going to distract Clarke, you’re not going to be allowed to sit with her.”

                They all dissolved into laughter. That night, each of them opened a pair of pajamas and slept in the living room with the pretense of ‘catching Santa in the act,’ Bellamy and Octavia’s tradition. Bellamy set up an elaborate trap with sheets and blankets in front of the doors and windows of the front room while Octavia, Clarke, and Jasper built an expansive blanket fort stretching over the front room and lit by the Christmas tree and the lights stretched across the walls.

                Christmas morning was a shock to Bellamy and Octavia. Clarke woke up first, knocking into Bellamy when she stood up and jerking him out of his sleep. She held her finger to her lips to signal for him to keep quiet and snuck out of the blanket fort, moving to the trap by the front window and triggering it to snap closed. He watched as she went into the bathroom and got cotton balls and a red food coloring to create fluff and blood spatter on the floor. When he opened his mouth to protest about the carpet, she hissed, “Stains come out of carpet. This is fun!”

                Then, she ate the cookies, dumped the milk down the drain, and moved all of the presents that hadn’t been under the tree the night before to the tree. Five for Jasper, three for Octavia, and one for Bellamy. She shooed him towards the kitchen to make coffee while she worked, refusing to let him help her move presents under the tree in case he guessed what she got everybody. Octavia and Jasper woke up when Jasper jerked awake, his long limbs flailing out in all directions and knocking over the corner of the blanket fort and bringing the entire structure down on them.

                They finally emerged and made their way into the kitchen, Jasper grinning and Octavia yawning. Jasper, as always, asked, “Are we having breakfast or presents first?”

                “Stockings, and then we’ll decide based on the magic of the Christmas coin. Just like every year, Jas,” Clarke chided over her coffee cup, smiling at the bouncing seventeen year old.

                “Mom….”

                “No whining on Christmas morning,” Clarke sang.

                “What the hell is a magic Christmas coin?” Octavia whispered to Bellamy, who only shrugged and motioned at her to follow the blonde and the massive boy-child as they started towards the living room. Clarke handed out the stockings with great ceremony, warning Bellamy, “You have to open yours with as much excitement as them.”

                “When did you have time to do all this? I’ve literally been with you every day, for most of the day, for a week and a half!”

                “I’m magical,” she snorted. “Ask any of the kids.”

                Jasper’s was filled with a tool kit, candy, and small cheap trinkets. Octavia’s was filled with an ornate glass crafting kit and several decorative butterflies, and candy. Bellamy’s had two small books: one labeled “Basic Manners for Dummies” and the other labeled “The Complete Tiny History of Augustus.” Clarke’s had art supplies along with the usual candy. When everybody had gone through their stockings, Clarke announced, “Who has a purple chocolate coin?”

                “This thing?” Octavia asked, holding up the quarter sized coin.

                “Yep. It’s our tradition. Heads means we eat breakfast first; tails means we open presents first,” Jasper explained. “It’s a fair way of doing it.”

                “Then let’s hope for tails because I’m starving,” Bellamy encouraged.

                “That must mean that you’re also cooking, right,” Clarke teased.

                Octavia flipped the coin and they headed into the kitchen for pancakes and bacon. Presents had just as much ceremony as the stockings did and Clarke and Bellamy sat up on the couch while their respective kids opened their presents, oohing and ahhing over the various clothes and toys (a complete robotics set for Jasper and a bow and arrow kit for Octavia) they received. When they’d unwrapped everything, they pulled the gifts for the adults over and handed each of them a couple boxes. Clarke opened a sweater from all the kids and a video camera from Jasper, who explained, “I’m going to install it this week and take out the doorbell for you.”

                Bellamy opened a pair of pajamas from Octavia and a motivational book from Jasper. When they were opened, Clarke and Bellamy presented each other with gifts. Bellamy stared nervously at the large rectangle that she handed him. It was about three feet tall and at least two feet wide. Hers was just a goofy sweater that said, “Yes, they’re my kids.” He opened it carefully and stared in awe at the painting in the frame. It was him and Octavia standing in the kitchen, just talking, both of their faces set in light smiles and Octavia’s hands thrown up in the air. It was beautiful.

                “Wow….this is…amazing, Clarke. This is….” He cut himself off, leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek before he drew her into a tight hug.

                She assured him, “It’s not a big deal. I love this sweater. I’m going to wear it the next time we go on an outing.”

                “Great, Bellamy. Like she needed more clothes to embarrass us with,” Octavia teased. Bellamy reached over to shove her gently, never taking his eyes off of Clarke.


	19. Surprises: Guests and Relations

                “Bell, can you get the door? I’m elbow deep in this bread!” It was three days after Christmas and Clarke was already preparing for New Years Eve, baking bread and making goodies to hand out. Jasper insisted that she have a small get together, just them and whatever members of the group wanted to come because he wasn’t convinced that she was done being sick, and none of them would let her out of the house.

                “Yeah, I’m on it.” Bellamy got off the couch where he and Jasper were watching Harry Potter again and Jasper was giving him a play-by-play analysis of the Quidditch match. He nodded at Jasper to pause the movie and walked to the front door. Everybody in the house was still in their pajamas, having what Clarke declared to be a ‘day as lazy as you want it.’ Octavia was upstairs, working on art and a reflective piece that she ‘felt moved to.’

                He opened the door to a dark, shaggy haired man-boy. A man that didn’t look like he’d been out of his teen years for long. Bellamy eyed him carefully and greeted, “Hi. Who are you?”

                “Who are you?” the dark haired man demanded in return. “Where’s Clarke?”

                “Clarke, there’s somebody here for you!” Bellamy shouted over his shoulder, keeping his head turned so that the man was visible from his peripheral vision.

                “Who is it? I’m washing my hands now!” The sound of running water came from the kitchen and Bellamy turned back to the man in the doorway, quirking his eyebrow and waiting for an answer.

                “I’m Finn. I heard Clarke was in the hospital and I had to see if she was alright.”

                “I’m going to fucking….”

                “What the fuck are you doing here?” Clarke’s voice interrupted Bellamy’s threat and he turned to stare at her. She was still wearing her purple pajama shorts and white tank top that said “Running is Life” in bright purple letters. Her hair was piled on top of her head and held in place by plastic spoons, and a dish towel was draped over her shoulder.

                “Clarke, I came to…”

                “To try and rip my house apart again?” Clarke cut him off angrily.

                “I came to see if you’re alright. Raven heard from Dax that you were in the hospital. Are you okay? Who is this? And is he living with you?”

                “The hospital trip for the stab wound or the recent one?” Clarke asked at the same time as Bellamy declared, “I’m her boyfriend. You must be the ex asshole I’ve heard so much about from the kids.”

                “You were stabbed? You’re dating somebody? Are you living here?” Finn sputtered, trying to keep track of all the things racing through his head just as Jasper appeared in the hallway behind Bellamy and Clarke.

                “What are you doing here?”

                Clarke whirled around to face Jasper and her eyes widened. She turned back to Finn and her voice was cold as ice when she growled, “You need to leave here, now.”

                “Clarke, I just want to…”

                “She said now,” Bellamy reiterated. “I’d listen to her if I were you.”

                “I…”

                “Clarke…” The voice was softer than the snow still on the ground, but Clarke and Jasper’s heads both jerked up towards the driveway, where a dark haired young woman had just gotten out of the passenger side of the car and was staring at all of them.

                “Raven.” It escaped Clarke like an exhale. Like she couldn’t keep it in. “Finn, move.”

                When he didn’t immediately get out of her way, her palm collided with his shoulder, spinning him so she could breeze past him without touching him. She raced out into the cold, no shoes on and Bellamy immediately reaching out for her, so she could rush up to Raven and wrap her in a tight hug. The dark haired girl stood there, unmoving for about thirty seconds before she raised her arms up and hugged Clarke in return, burying her face in the blonde’s shoulder and sighing, “You’re alright.”

                “Of course I’m alright,” Clarke said, her voice thick with tears she was trying not to let loose. “Takes more than a stabbing and the flu to get rid of me. Come in. How long will you be in town? Have you eaten yet? Tell me about college. Tell me about your life.”

                “I didn’t plan to stay for long. I just had to see that you’re okay. I…I just…it’s been so long. And I didn’t know how to…”

                “No, it’s fine. You don’t have to,” Clarke assured her quickly. “Come in for dinner. We were just about to make dinner. Can you stay for dinner? He can come in too.”

                “We can stay for dinner,” Raven agreed, looking up at the house to where Bellamy was staring Finn down with murder in his eyes. “But then we have to go back home. Okay?”

                “That’s fine. We can have dinner. Dinner is fine,” Clarke said quickly, almost tripping over her words. She grasped Raven’s hand tight in her own and pulled her towards the house.

                “Raven, this is Bellamy Blake. Bellamy, this is Raven Reyes.”

                “Bellamy is Mom’s boyfriend!” Jasper announced, still glaring daggers at Finn along with Bellamy.

                “Yep, that is what he is,” Clarke agreed awkwardly before she pulled Raven into the house. She called over her shoulder, “Finn, you may join us in the kitchen.”

                Clarke led them all into the house, Jasper and Bellamy bringing up the rear so they could watch Finn. Jasper announced, “I’m going to go get Octavia. She’s never met Raven or Finn.”

                “Well don’t rush her. I guess we should all change out of our pajamas, shouldn’t we?” Clarke said with a half nervous laugh. “Bell, want to come upstairs with me?”

                “Yeah, of course.”

                “We’ll be right back. Make yourselves comfortable. It will only take us a second.” They left the kitchen and Bellamy followed Clarke up to her room, half smirking the entire time. She shut the door carefully, turned to him, and demanded, “What are you thinking? You’re my boyfriend now?”

                “I was thinking that I didn’t like the way he was looking at you! Like he felt sorry for you, or like he wanted to swoop in and save the day, or whatever. That dude is such a douche! You dated him!?”

                “I was going to marry him!” Clarke hissed. “Bell, you can’t just pretend to be my boyfriend while they’re here!”

                “Look, I’ve been here for the past two weeks, we fall asleep on the couch with each other all the time, I like you, you like me, my sister and your kid and all the ARC kids like us being together, it’s not that far of a stretch to say that we’re together,” Bellamy argued.

                “So, what? You just want to start calling each other boyfriend-girlfriend in front of everybody all the time?”

                “I mean, labels are a little quick, but telling people that we’re dating isn’t that much of a stretch! Even when they leave, what’s the harm in still dating? Octavia and Jasper love having us here together.”

                “And what happens if we break up?” Clarke demanded, her hands on her hips as she stared up into his eyes.

                “Then we figure it out when we get there,” Bellamy said firmly. “Clarke, I really like you. A lot. And I’m happy to pretend today that I’m your head-over-heels-in-love boyfriend, and then, tomorrow, we can see where the situation takes us. Starting with telling the kids, or at least O and Jasper, that we want to see each other in a serious way.”

                “You are so frustrating!”

                “And you are letting that absolute dick down there creep into everything you do. For fuck’s sake, Clarke. I’m not him, and if I am ever like him, I want Octavia to take me out back and shoot me, because that’s a fate worse than death. So just fucking date me!”

                “Fine!” she growled. “But if it affects the kids’ lives at all, I’m going to have a big fat ‘I told you so’ waiting on you.”

                “Way to make this so much less meaningful, princess.”

                “What do you want me to say, Bellamy? I like you too? Because I do. You’re a good person and you’re a good brother and a good guardian, and I want to kiss you all the time. But that doesn’t mean that anything is going to be perfect.”

                “I’m not asking for perfect, Clarke. I’m asking for a chance.”

                “And I’m giving you one!”

                They stood there, staring at each other resolutely, their chests heaving from keeping their argument quiet and their noses almost pressed together. Bellamy was bent over her and she was standing with her back ramrod straight to meet his gaze challengingly. But it was her that laughed first and pressed her palm to his chest to push him backwards gently. She ordered, “Go get dressed, Bellamy. You’re going to be the perfect boyfriend while we make dinner.”

                “I’m the perfect everything, sweetheart,” he cooed at her, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

                “Go,” she ordered again.


	20. The Blakes are Like Kittens

                “You painted in here,” Raven commented when Clarke and Bellamy made their way back into the kitchen.                

                “Yeah, Jas and I did a lot of home improvement to celebrate his adoption going through. We wanted to make this place feel like a home for both of us.” Clarke went to the fridge to look through it. “What sounds good for dinner? We could cook something. Or we could order. Do you still like Indian food? The place up the road still has the best take out.”

                “We’re you guys already cooking dinner?” Raven asked, eyeing the bread dough sitting on the counter.

                “Nah. That’s for New Years. Don’t worry about it. Does Indian sound good? Bell, do you and O like Indian food?”

                “I don’t think O’s ever had it, but you know she’ll try anything. Just don’t get anything too spicy. Jasper’s only been eating junk food today. Spicy food’s going to make him barf immediately.”

                “That’s a good point. Thanks, Bell.”

                He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll go get her and Jasper. Be right back, babe.”

                She raised one eyebrow at him and he smirked back before he left. Clarke grabbed the menu off of the fridge and went over to the table where Raven and Finn were sitting. Ignoring Finn completely, she asked, “What are you in the mood for? There are six of us so we can order a lot of stuff. And Octavia hasn’t had Indian food before so we need to order a pretty decent variety.”

                Raven smiled weakly at Clarke and started talking about the food. Jasper, Octavia, and Bellamy joined them a few moments later, arguing loudly about the proper way to break a window. When they walked in, Finn interrupted Raven and Clarke with, “You have a kid?”    

                Bellamy’s eyes darted from Octavia at his side, where he had his arm thrown over her shoulder, to Finn sitting at the table. Bellamy growled, “I have a sister. But what’s matter to you if I do?”

                “Just wondering,” Finn said quickly. “I never thought I’d see Clarke dating a man with a kid.”

                “She has a son,” Bellamy informed him drily. “Seems like she needs somebody who knows how to handle that.”

                “Bellamy’s the best guardian anybody could ask for. Well, the best surrogate father. Sorry, Bell. You make a shitty Mom. Clarke’s a bit better.”

                “Mouth, Octavia,” Bellamy chided softly.

                She elbowed him in the side and collapsed in the chair next to Clarke at the table. She peered at the menu upside down and asked, “What is all of this?”

                “It’s good. I promise,” Clarke assured her.

                Bellamy took his position behind Clarke and started pointing out things on the menu that she would like. Jasper fell into the chair next to Clarke and greeted, “Hey, Ray. Tell me about college. I’m stuck between MIT and NYU. Monty’s likes MIT more, and he’s got a good point when it comes to the prestige, but it’s New York City!”

                “You can visit New York any time though, Jas. You have to think about what will be best for your whole future,” Raven replied, and Clarke tilted her head so she could present Bellamy with a beaming grin. He looked down and kissed her forehead. Raven continued, “How’s school been?”

                “Well, now that I’m not selling drugs out of my locker, school is surprisingly easier,” Jasper said, half sarcastically.

                “I bet. Life got a bit easier when I stopped stealing things from the local gas station,” Raven agreed. “Clarke, are you still teaching at the high school?”

                “Yep. Art three days a week. I sell paintings still too. And we’re government funded now. So the kids can count it as a rehabilitation facility anytime anybody brings up their previous criminal charges.” Clarke grinned. “We’re legal now! Like one of the summer camps you see on reality tv!”

                “That’s amazing!”

                “It’s what you always talked about!” Clarke glared at Finn dangerously before she turned back to Raven.

                “Tell me everything about college. What was your first roommate like? Are you looking at study abroad opportunities? Do you have everything you need?”

                “Clarke, I didn’t come to ask for anything,” Raven reminded her softly.

                “No, of course. Of course. Just tell me everything. Bell, could you order please?”

                “Anything for you, princess.”

                He nodded at the menu and Raven tapped the items she wanted. Clarke said, “Anything you want.”

                “You spoil him too much, Clarke. Next thing you know, he’ll be wearing Velour jumpsuits and sitting on the couch watching the Real Housewives,” Octavia teased. “You’ll take all the rigor the military put in him and flush it down the toilet.”

                “I still have enough rigor to dump you in the lake, brat.”

                “I could take you down any day, old man.”

                Bellamy grabbed his cell phone and took the menu into the hallway to order. When he finished, he stood in the doorway for a minute to watch Clarke interact with Raven. She lit up. Her blue eyes shone with excitement and the smile on her face lit up the whole room. Even Jasper and Octavia, who were glaring threateningly at Finn, were smiling. It was contagious to see her that happy.

                “Hey, honey. Why don’t Finn, Octavia, and I let you, Jas, and Raven catch up, huh? We’ll go watch TV in the living room,” Bellamy suggested suddenly, catching Finn’s eye and smiling.         

                “I don’t….”

                “Come on, Finn. Let Ms. G have time with her kids,” Octavia laughed. “I’m sure there’s some kind of game on or something. Bell and I just love the history channel.”

                “That sounds like a great idea!” Clarke cheered. “Finn, go with them and let us talk! Jasper and Raven have so much to tell each other and I just want to hear everything. You’re not talking. You’ll just be bored sitting here.”

                “Go ahead, Finn,” Raven agreed. “It will be fine.”

                Finn stood up uneasily and followed Bellamy out of the kitchen with Octavia taking up the rear. Raven asked, “They’re not going to hurt him, are they?”

                “Them? No!” Jasper answered. “The Blakes are like kittens. Keep telling us about college. Mom’s been so curious about everything. We don’t have your number, Ray. Maybe we can get it again before you leave.”

 

                “Do you like the Civil War, Finn? There’s a great documentary on that. A country torn apart. I think there’s a Shakespeare piece on Hamlet too. That’s even better. A house torn apart by betrayal,” Bellamy said conversationally.

                “Now that’s more my speed. I wouldn’t have gone easy like Hamlet did though,” Octavia laughed. “I think I would have torn the entire house down.”

                “Hamlet it is. Come on, O. Finn, sit down. Watch TV with us.”

                He glanced between the two Blakes and tried to avoid their hard glares. For eyes that were so different, Octavia’s hardened blue and Bellamy’s endless brown, they had almost identical glares- anger and death glinting from the inside out. Finn dropped onto the couch as far away from the Blakes as possible. Bellamy turned on the TV and flipped to the channel with Hamlet on. But even with it on, Octavia still talked, “Hamlet is my favorite of all the Shakespeare plays. A lot of death, not as much as Macbeth, not as little as Romeo and Juliet. It’s a good medium. What do you think, Bell?”

                “I like the war in Macbeth. Based off a real one. But you know I’m a history buff. Plus I hate the whole house divided thing. I would have killed the uncle right off the bat. Saved myself some time and my girlfriend. What about you, Finn? What’s your take on Shakespeare.”

                “Okay, okay. Quit the scary military routine,” Finn snapped suddenly, glancing towards the kitchen and then back at the Blake siblings. “It’s not working.”

                “Why are you sitting so far away then?” Octavia sang sweetly.

                “Look, I know what you want to know. You want to know why we’re here all of the sudden. Why we’re so worried.”

                “Not her,” Bellamy corrected. “She’s one of Clarke’s kids. Just you.”

                “I’m here because Raven’s here.”

                “You don’t need to be here for her to be here,” Octavia said firmly. “Why are you here?”

                “We were in town visiting Raven’s mom and we heard about Clarke being in the hospital. She wanted me to come with her. She hasn’t seen Clarke in, two, three years.”

                “Since…”

                “The incident,” Finn cut Bellamy off quickly. “She was nervous about coming here, and she asked me to come with her.”

                “And you had to be the one to knock on the door? You had to be the bearer of bad news?”

                “It’s bad news that Raven is back?”

                “No. That’s everything Clarke could dream of. You’re the bad news I’m talking about.”

                “How am I bad news?” he demanded.

                “We want Raven around again. We don’t want you around. How do we get one without the other?” Octavia demanded.

                “Raven is my girlfriend. We’ve been together for three years.”

                “Yeah, and there was some overlap in there while you were engaged to Clarke, which is where this problem stems from. Now, are we going to have a problem with you?”

                “No. No problems,” Finn promised. “I’m only here for Raven.”

                “Which means you won’t talk to or even look at Clarke.”

                “Yeah.”

                “Glad we can see eye to eye. Now watch Hamlet. Learn something.”


	21. Time to Tell the Kids

                “She’s acing all of her classes. She thinks she might even graduate top of the class! Top of the class, Bell!”

                “That’s amazing.” They were in the kitchen, putting away dishes and wiping down the counters. Raven and Finn had left twenty minutes before, with Raven promising to call and Finn resolutely not looking at Clarke.

                “She looked so healthy, so happy. God, I might hate Finn, but if she’s happy, I can deal with him coming to dinner once or twice a year so I can see her. She might even come to the reunion dinner in June! She’ll get to see Charlotte! Oh, I have to call Char tomorrow and tell her! Do you think I’m overreacting?”

                “No. I think you’re excited. It’s cute.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She put down the sponge she was using to wipe down the counters and turned to face him.

                “And I think you’re cute, Bellamy Blake,” she purred.

                “Do you now?”

                “Very cute.” She stepped closer to him and stood up on her tiptoes to capture his lips with hers. He put the plate he was holding down on the counter and grabbed her hips, pulling her closer to him and maintaining the contact. His tongue traced her lower lip and she opened her mouth so he could kiss her deeper. She tangled her fingers in his hair and he lifted her off her feet to prop her up on the counter so he could stand between her thighs. When they both pulled away to breathe, Clarke laughed and sighed, “We’re acting like teenagers.”

                “If we’re the teenagers, does that make O and Jas our parents? Are we dry humping in the kitchen while our parents watch TV in the other room?”

                Clarke snorted and buried her face in Bellamy’s shoulder. She giggled, “How is it possible for me to like you so much? How is it possible for you to be this good?”

                “It’s not. Give me a month or two. I’ll piss you off.”

                ‘You piss me off every single day that you are speaking,” she teased.

                “The feeling is mutual, princess. Sometimes, I want to sink you in that lake out there.”

                “The other morning, I was so mad at you, I thought about sticking a fork in your thigh at the breakfast table because you said that your eggs were better than mine.”

                “When you refused to stay in bed even though you nearly fell over every time you moved, I considered chaining you to the bed. I even went out to your shed to see if you had one.”

                “So, officially, we’re not going to piss each other off in a month and break up?”

                “We might kill each other,” Bellamy chuckled, “but I think our relationship can stand.”

                “Then I guess it’s time for us to meet the parents,” Clarke said solemnly, nodding towards the living room.

                “You take Octavia; I’ll take Jasper. O’s going to be overjoyed. If Jas tries to stab me, I won’t hurt him, but I will only let him get me once, and definitely in a non-vital place,” Bellamy said solemnly.

                “Blood makes him queasy, so just make sure that you bleed on him,” Clarke responded in kind.

                “I’ll keep that in mind.” He kissed her again and stepped back from her, pulling her down off the counter and putting her on her feet. He intertwined their fingers together, and they walked into the living room together. Jasper and Octavia were sprawled out on different sides of the couch. They glanced up when Bellamy and Clarke walked in and Octavia’s face split wide in a grin.

                “Hey, Jas, Bell wants to talk to you. Maybe in the kitchen. And, O, wanna go up to the art studio and chat?”

                “Yes!” Octavia leapt up off the couch and as she followed Clarke up the stairs, she turned around and rubbed her pointer finger and middle finger against her thumb while mouthing, “I got the pool!”

                When they made it up the stairs, Bellamy asked, “How much is the pool right now?”

                “Sixty, I think,” Jasper replied calmly. “Two more weeks and Monty would have won.”

                “Glad Monty was betting for us. What was your bet?”

                “I didn’t bet.” Jasper avoided his eyes. “It doesn’t matter to me if Clarke dates or not, as long as she’s happy. Atom betted against you though.”

                “Hmm. You know you, Monty, and Miller are my favorites, right?” Bellamy asked.

                “Slow down on Miller. His money was that Clarke would punch you in the face before you started dating.”

                “It came close a few times. Want to go into the kitchen or do this here?”

                Jasper turned off the TV and finally faced him. He nodded at the couch and replied, “We can do this here.”

                Bellamy sat down slowly and asked, “Alright. Let’s talk about this. What do you think?”

                “I think Clarke likes you,” Jasper said carefully. “And I think you like her. And when Finn left here today, he looked like he was going to pee his pants. I think, that if that’s good enough for Mom, that’s good enough for me.”

                “Okay, now you can deliver your warnings. And be creative with them, Jasper. I know you’re smart enough to figure out some good ones,” Bellamy encouraged.

                “Well, I don’t think you’ll sleep with any of us, since you don’t seem to be gay- not that it would matter anyway since Monty is in love with Miller and Miller is waiting for them to be eighteen and experienced first. The girls don’t count since Monroe is a lesbian, and Octavia is your sister. So I guess my only thing is don’t hurt my mom.” Jasper stared at him seriously, letting him know that the joking was done. “Everybody thinks she’s really strong and she can do anything, and she can, but she’s putting herself out there. And I don’t want her to regret that. So, I guess, if you hurt her, nobody will be surprised if I commit a felony. They all think I’m going to anyway. And there are already blood stains in some of these rooms. So one or two more wouldn’t hurt the house. Got it?”

                “Got it, Jas,” Bellamy assured him with a soft smile. “Now, I just have one question- Monroe’s gay?”

 

                “Okay, Octavia, ask away.” Clarke and Octavia were situated in the art studio upstairs, sitting on stools with hot tea freshly prepared and Octavia’s mouth settled into a happy smirk.

                “How long have you known you liked my brother? When did you guys talk about this? Is it, like, official-official?”

                “I don’t know. Bellamy is a good man. He’s a pain in my ass, and sometimes I think about hiding his body in the lake, but he’s a good man. And I like being around him. In a different way than I like being around you and Jasper and the kids. And this is the first time I’ve felt like this in a long time, I think even before Finn and I ended. I like Bellamy.”

                “But you are boyfriend and girlfriend?” Octavia checked.

                “Yes,” Clarke assured her with a soft smile. “We’ve decided, like teenagers, that we are boyfriend and girlfriend. It’s too hard to be casually dating with seven children in our lives.”

                “In your lives,” Octavia repeated. “Does this mean you’re going to go on dates? Jasper and I can hang out at the house while you go on dates, so you don’t have to worry about us being by ourselves. And we can call you and check in and everything. And maybe every now and then we can all four go out together, like a family. We can all do family stuff together. And maybe we can bring the others too. Lincoln and Atom and Monty and Miller and Monroe. We can all do stuff together.”

                “Octavia, don’t count chickens before they hatch,” Clarke warned. “Bellamy and I might not work out. We might not be perfect for one another.”

                “But you are perfect for one another,” she answered as if it were obvious. “You’re the first person I’ve ever seen Bell make an effort on. So are we going to do family dinners? Can Jas and I act like dramatic brats in public so that we can all laugh about it in private? Oh my gosh, can I shout that you’re not my mother and Jas shout that you’re better than my prick of a military brother and then Bellamy yells at Jasper so you hit him and we all have to leave in a hurry because the restaurant called the cops and…”

                “I’m not going to hit Bellamy at dinner,” Clarke said firmly. “But if shouting and being dramatic will make you guys feel better, we’ll go a couple of towns over and wear disguises.”

                Octavia beamed, her grin lighting up her eyes and stretching her face wide. Clarke smiled softly back at her and informed her, “You know that I can be family to you no matter what, right? I am always here for you. Whether your brother and I are dating or we hate each other.”

                “I know that, Ms. G,” Octavia replied fondly. Clarke smiled and brushed a strand of runaway hair behind Octavia’s ear.

                “Good. Now let’s go down and watch a movie with the boys.”


	22. Better Shape than Bellamy Blake

                “Mom, maybe you shouldn’t go back today. I don’t think Kane or Jaha would mind if you spend one more day at home. Or another week.”

                “I’m fine, Jas. Look at me, I’m glowing. I just did my two mile run.”

                “She just did her two mile run in twenty fucking minutes.”

                The two Blakes and the two Griffins were gathered in the kitchen. The Blakes were staying at the house until the plumbing in their apartment got fixed. They’d returned a few days after Christmas to find that, in their absence, the pipes had frozen and busted, damaging a lot of the apartment and leaving them homeless until Clarke offered them a place to stay after a call from Octavia. Bellamy was still sleeping in the guest room, to the taunting of Octavia and a little from Jasper, but he and Clarke often fell asleep on the couch arguing or watching a movie or just sitting in comfortable silence with Bellamy working on homework and Clarke sketching.

                In the kitchen, Octavia was at the table, still in her pajamas, drinking coffee and glaring out the window. Jasper was mixing batter for the pancakes at the counter next to Clarke, fully dressed and not allowed to drink coffee. It was his job to get himself up for school, a task he completed without argument. He was even nice enough to wake Octavia up after he got out of the shower. Clarke was stirring eggs, still in her workout gear with her hair pulled up and the sheen of sweat making her glow in the morning light. Bellamy was leaning against the counter- still a little out of breath and downing a large bottle of Gatorade.

                “Just because she kicked your ass at running doesn’t mean that she’s better yet,” Jasper argued. “She runs every day! Twenty minutes for two miles isn’t normal for her! She usually does them in fifteen. And she usually does five miles!”

                “Jas, I haven’t ran in a month. Of course I have to cut back on my miles. And I would have done a fifteen minute run, but my ex-military boyfriend slowed me down.” Clarke smiled warmly at Bellamy and he glared back at her.

                “Finally somebody calls you out on the fact that lifting motors isn’t the same as doing cardio,” Octavia finally pulled her mouth away from her coffee cup to speak.

                “Go get a shower, princess. I’ll stir the eggs.” He put the Gatorade on the counter and bumped her out of the way with his hip. “You’re smelling up the kitchen.”

                “I’m not the one who sweated through his shirt,” Clarke called over her shoulder as she headed out of the kitchen, pausing to ruffle Jasper’s hair.

                When she was gone, Bellamy assured Jasper, “She’s fine. I promise, buddy. She’s done taking her medicine, I called the doctor yesterday and they said she should be fine to go back, and you have my number on speed dial if you need anything. I’m going to have lunch with her today and if I think she’s not feeling well enough, I won’t let her go back to work, okay?”

                “Thanks. She just doesn’t listen to anyone,” Jasper sighed, moving next to Bellamy to start making pancakes.

                “No she does not. O, set the table.”

                “Oh god. Is this what family breakfasts are like? Mom and Dad go for a two mile run, we all get up at an ungodly hour to eat together before school starts? Mom and Brother are morning people? This is awful. I take back everything I said,” Octavia said dramatically, even as she stood up and moved to get the dishes from the cabinet.

                “You were the one moaning about having to move back into the apartment,” Bellamy scolded. “Be careful what you wish for. Now you’re longing for the days of stolen granola bars and sub par braiding.”

                “Please, I had the best hair in the entire fourth grade,” Octavia shot back. “Girls were so jealous, they thought about stabbing me with their little Hello Kitty pencils.”

                “Glad I could instill murderous rage in the hearts of little girls.”

                “And adult women,” Jasper added. “You should have seen the glares Clarke was getting at the supermarket yesterday. People actually think that you two are a married couple with two teenagers.”

                “I know she doesn’t look old enough to have a seventeen year old. Do I look old enough to have a sixteen year old?” Bellamy asked.

                “Calm down, Cassanova,” Octavia snorted. “You still look young. You guys just act like a Mom and Dad. Aren’t you going to go up and jump in the shower with Mom? Start the day off right?”

                “Come on, O!” Bellamy sighed at the same time as Jasper cried out, “Octavia!”

                She laughed, the sound filling the kitchen and the boys met eyes so they could roll theirs. Clarke arrived in the kitchen just as the food finished cooking, her long tie dye skirt flowing around her ankles and her hair wet and loose around her shoulders.      

                “You need to dry your hair” “You can’t wear a skirt when it’s this cold out” and “You can’t wear tennis shoes with that skirt” were the greetings she received.

                “Hmm. I thought I had an absent parent and a deceased parent,” Clarke hummed as she floated to the fridge to get the drinks. “When did I move three parents into my house?”

                “Mom, you **just** got out of the hospital! Come on!”

                “He’s not wrong, Clarke.”

                The four rotated around the kitchen, Bellamy and Jasper taking food to the table while Octavia laid out silverware and Clarke poured drinks. They sat down to eat- Clarke and Jasper on one side of the table and Octavia and Bellamy on the table. Clarke waved off their protests, teasing Bellamy about not being able to run and ruffling Jasper’s hair whenever he was too concerned with what she was wearing. Bellamy and Octavia finished getting ready while Clarke and Jasper cleaned up the kitchen. Jasper and Clarke had the kitchen for breakfast; Bellamy and Octavia cleaned it after dinner.

                Bellamy and Clarke kissed before Clarke drove Jasper and Octavia to school and Bellamy drove to work. When Bellamy got back to the house that night, Clarke and Miller were making dinner in the kitchen and Monroe and Octavia were watching a movie in the living room. Jasper was nowhere to be seen but Bellamy knew without looking that he was somewhere with Monty. If Miller and Jasper were in the house, Monty was in the house.

                “Hey, princess, full house tonight. Hey, Miller.”

                “Bellamy,” Miller greeted in his solemn way.

                “Yeah. Monty and Jasper are out back doing a science experiment,” Clarke explained. “I think Lincoln is coming over for dinner too. Don’t be such a big brother about it, but Octavia invited him, and if you glare at him, you’re sleeping on the couch. No nice comfy guest bedroom for you.”

                “That would be a better threat if your couch wasn’t more comfortable than everything in my apartment,” he taunted. “I’m going to go wash up. What am I doing for dinner?”

                “Miller and I have it. He’s practicing making Chicken Cordon Bleu with asparagus. Go relax. Watch TV or something.”

                “Are you sure? I could…”

                Clarke clapped her hand over his mouth suddenly and smiled at him. She ordered, “Go relax. Take a long hot shower, take a long hot bath. You’re going to need to relax now because we are doing two more miles in the morning.”

                She released him and kissed him before she shoved him towards the kitchen door. He glanced over his shoulder again, his mouth pulling down at the sides before he went through the living room. Monroe and Octavia were sitting on the couch working on their homework while the news played in the background.

                “Hey, O, Monroe, need help with your homework?” he asked, pausing at the end of the couch.

                “Nah, we got it, Bell. Didn’t Clarke tell you to go relax?” Octavia replied, smiling softly at him. “Go chill, big brother. You deserve it.”

                “Right.” Bellamy frowned but went upstairs to shower and change into his clothes. Clothes that were stored in a dresser in a room that he didn’t pay for. He growled a little as he slammed the drawer on the dresser and yanked his shirt over his head. Just as a knock sounded on the door.

                “Hey, Bell, everything alright in there?” Clarke’s voice was soft and had traces of laughter in it still, no doubt from being with the kids.

                “Yeah. Everything’s fine. What’s up?”

                The door creaked open slowly and she peeked around it to grin at him. “Dinner’s almost done. Jas and Monty are cleaning up right now and I think we have about ten minutes before we absolutely have to be down in the kitchen.”

                His unexplained irritation faded and he teased, “Ms. Griffin, are you suggesting that we make out like teenagers?”

                “I think that is exactly what I’m suggesting, Mr. Blake. Is that too scandalous for you?”

                “Come here,” he ordered, moving quickly to drag her in the room and close the door behind her so he could push her up against it. He sealed his mouth over hers in seconds while she raised one leg to drop it over his hip. They’d had several heavy make out sessions in the few weeks they’d been dating. Always ending when one of the kids interrupted or when they pulled apart because they didn’t want to go too far, too fast.

                He kissed her soundly, pushing against her while she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled. They were too aggressive in their kissing, almost fighting each other, a violent dance. His hand traveled down to her knee and yanked it higher up on his hip, opening her to him more so he could grind against her while his other hand clutched at her waist, slowly sliding higher and higher, until there was a crash from downstairs and the high, loud voice of Jasper shouting, “Mom! Where are the super absorbent towels?”

                “Bell, how do you stop plastic from melting?” Octavia’s voice joined in and was followed by Miller shouting, “Just don’t touch anything else!”

                They pulled apart and Clarke laughed, the crystalline sound filling the air between them even as Bellamy groaned. Clarke poked him in the ribs and ordered, “Come to my room tonight. We can…”

                “Not while all the kids are in the house!” Bellamy interrupted forcefully, to which Clarke laughed again.

                “I was going to say that we could make out some more like horny teenagers, you pervert,” she teased. “Now let’s go see what my kids set on fire.”

                “Our kids,” Bellamy replied solemnly. “Octavia’s mine, so they’re our kids.”

                She nodded and tangled their fingers together to drag him out the door.


	23. Charlotte and the Blakes

                “Hey, what are you doing next Sunday?” They were sprawled out on his couch for once. It was the third time Clarke and Jasper had been to his and Octavia’s apartment. The first being a celebratory dinner for their plumbing being fixed. The second and third just for dinner. Octavia and Jasper were stretched out on the floor, completely absorbed in a video game and trash talking each other violently.

                “I don’t have plans yet. Why? Do you want to do something? And if you follow up the suggestion with ‘Don’t worry I’ll pay’ I’m going to take you outside and dip you in a water puddle. It’s still January, they’re probably still frozen out there.” Bellamy’s long fingers dug into her side and she squirmed, giggling and prodding him back.

                “It doesn’t involve money at all,” Clarke replied once she’d managed to get him to stop tickling her. “Jasper and I are going up to see Charlotte. We only have three more visits before she’s released, and she wants to meet you and Octavia.”

                “Oh. Wow. Charlotte, huh?” Bellamy said slowly.

                “It’s not a big deal if you can’t come or if you don’t want to,” Clarke said quickly, keeping her eyes on Jasper and Octavia, who were too engrossed in their racing game to even notice the conversation going on between them. “It’s probably a lot too fast. I didn’t even think…”

                “Clarke, we lived with you for almost three weeks,” Bellamy grasped her chin and pulled her face to look at him so he could stare into her deep blue eyes while he spoke, “and I’ve known you since September, and wanted to be with you since November. It’s not too much too fast. I just know how much Charlotte means to you. I want to make a good impression on her.”

                “You will,” Clarke promised. “She hated Finn, and she likes everything I’ve told her about you. Really, it’s more about you meeting her and knowing her a little before she gets out. She wants to make sure that she’s not a burden or a surprise on anyone, though I got to be honest, Bell. If you weren’t okay with Charlotte moving in with me, I wouldn’t be okay with you.”

                “I get that. Same with me and Octavia for anyone. O says I don’t date because I’m emotionally stunted…”

                “Which you are,” Clarke added in, smiling to soften the jab, and earning her a poke in the side.

                “But,” he continued, furrowing his eyebrows at her to let her know he was being serious, “it’s because most girls can’t handle me being my sister’s only guardian.”

                “Well I am not most girls.”

                “Clarke, can you and Jas stay here tonight? It’s already like, midnight, and there’s no way he’s going to beat me!” Octavia didn’t look away from the TV to ask.

                “It’s already midnight!?” Clarke sat up and looked down at her watch quickly, sighing and scolding, “You two have school in the morning! Jas, you don’t have clothes here or anything.”

                “I have my backpack and one of Bellamy’s shirts would fit me. You don’t have to be at the school tomorrow,” Jasper replied, barely tilting his head so that it was like he was talking to Clarke. “We can run on six hours of sleep and some coffee. Plus I have a free period so I can go sleep in the art room for an hour. O can too. It’s about time she got to use the spare key.”

                “Does O have a free period tomorrow?” Bellamy chimed in.

                “Yes, big brother. Right after lunch. Jas’s is right before lunch, so we’ll swap the key out at lunch. Then we’ll take naps when we get home. Just let us stay up for another hour. Please!” Octavia’s voice faded into a whine.

                “And where are Jasper and I going to sleep?” Clarke argued, knowing they were losing the battle.

                “Jasper is going to sleep in Bellamy’s bed and you two are going to sleep on the couch.”

                “Only because the couch is a fold out,” Bellamy sighed in agreement.

                “Well, if it’s a fold out, I’ll sleep out here, you guys sleep in Bell’s bedroom,” Jasper said kindly.

                “We haven’t even said yes yet!” Clarke objected.

                “Yet,” Jasper pointed out. “Come on, O! Last round and then you’re going to have to admit defeat.”

                “Hell no, Jas. I’m getting my second wind. Be ready to eat shit.”

                “We are not running two miles in the morning,” Bellamy informed Clarke solemnly. “My house, my rules. Your house, we run two miles before breakfast. At my house, we sleep in until the very last minute, when we’re brushing our teeth before we put our socks on.”

                “You barbarian!” Clarke gasped in fake horror. “How will we make it on time?”

                “Because the kids are taking your car, isn’t that right, Jas?”

                “Yep. Sure.”

                “That gaming system goes off in thirty minutes exactly,” Clarke warned.

                “Clarke,” the teenagers whined together.

                “No whining,” Bellamy backed Clarke up. They smiled and settled into the couch to watch their teenagers fight over who was winning and who was going to have to do dishes at dinner for the next two weeks.

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                “You look fine, stop fiddling with your collar,” Clarke hissed as Bellamy stared down the guard leading them down the hallway. Behind them, Jasper was whispering information to Octavia about where the vending machines were and which girls in the yard would glare at you and which were in trouble for various things, all mixed in with facts about Charlotte that he thought were important.

                “I need to make a good impression,” he hissed back.

                Despite Clarke and Jasper repeatedly telling Bellamy not to, he wore a button up shirt over his black jeans and cleaned his tennis shoes the night before. Octavia had actually listened and wore jeans and a t-shirt. Clarke took his hand in hers and squeezed it comfortingly. She murmured, “She’s going to love you.”            

                The room they were led into looked like a cafeteria, except all of the young women were wearing grayish blue and there were guards spread out throughout the room. As soon as they entered, a blonde at a table near the door cried out, “Clarke! Jasper!”

                Clarke released his hand and rushed over to her, opening her arms and hugging the girl tight, acting the part of the mother, despite the fact that the girl was almost half a foot taller than her. Clarke released the girl so she could hug Jasper and then introduced, “Charlotte, this is Bellamy and Octavia Blake. Guys, this is Charlotte Wilson.”

                Charlotte shook their hands with a smile and Octavia noted, “God you look a lot like Clarke. You’re sure you’re not related?”

                It was true that Charlotte’s eyes glimmered a similar blue and, even though her blonde hair was a shade darker, the similarity was there in the coloring. Her chin was pointed more than Clarke’s and she didn’t have the curves, but they could have been cousins. Charlotte laughed and replied, “Don’t I wish. I think my life would have been a lot better if I’d met Clarke a lot sooner.”

                “I wish you could have been in my life from the beginning,” Clarke said warmly, grinning brightly. “Come on. Let’s sit down before the guards have a heart attack.”

                “For as many years as you’ve been visiting me, you’d think they’d be less tense. You haven’t slipped me a shank yet and it’s almost time for me to be released,” Charlotte joked, gesturing towards the table.

                Jasper informed Octavia and Bellamy, “We have to sit on the opposite side. If we sit next to her the guards will think that we’re trying to slip her something.”

                “Like you’re a dangerous criminal?” Bellamy snorted. “You’re a little girl.”

                “I am a dangerous criminal,” Charlotte said blankly, her eyes becoming solemn. “I killed a man, Mr. Blake. Clarke’s faith in me doesn’t change the fact that I cut a boy’s throat in an alley.”

                “There were circumstances, Char,” Clarke assured her softly, sitting down at the table and gesturing for the others to do the same. “You’re not a cold blooded killer. Sit down and tell me about your week. Let Bell and O see why Jasper and I love you so much.”

                Clarke grinned the entire time Charlotte, Jasper, Octavia, and Bellamy talked. Bellamy’s thumb traced patterns over the back of Clarke’s hand while he told stories of his time in the military. Jasper tripped over his words while he hurried to tell Charlotte everything she’d missed about public school and Octavia joined in happily, filling in any blanks. Charlotte told them about the latest gossip and how she was getting closer and closer to getting her diploma. The classes in the detention center weren’t the best, and any class that would require a lab in a real school was taken online, but her applications to community colleges were going well. She’d have the summer to get used to the real world again and she could get a job to fill her parole.

                “I’m going to start painting your room next month,” Clarke promised. “I’ll bring some paint cards down and we can talk about it the next time I visit.”

                “And I will reiterate the fact that I don’t have to live with you, you know that, right?” Charlotte said sweetly, timidly.

                “No!” Jasper cut her off quickly. “You’re my sister and you’re coming to live with us. Why wouldn’t you?”

                “I don’t want to cause any trouble and I know that you have a full house already.”

                “It’s not that full,” Bellamy suddenly cut in. “I know it’s not my place to step in, but I’m pretty sure these two won’t be able to survive if you don’t move in. And, if you need a job, the secretary for the garage is leaving in April when she has her baby. I can get them to hold off on hiring somebody until you get out if that sounds good to you.”

                “Really? You’d do that?”

                “Yeah. They’d work with your college schedule once you get started in the fall too,” Bellamy replied, trying not to look over to where Clarke’s grin was splitting her face. “I’ll talk to Pete and tell him that when Sarah leaves, we got somebody lined up.”

                “Oh wow. Thanks so much.” Charlotte looked down at her hands and Clarke slid her free hand across the table to fold it over hers. Jasper’s joined her quickly.

                “We’re going to be a family,” Jasper promised. “We just need you to come home.”

                “I can’t wait to have sleepovers with you.” Octavia’s hand covered Jasper’s.

                “It will be good to have you around. Maybe I can teach you how to work on cars. None of the rest of them want to learn.” Bellamy finished off the pile of hands and Clarke leaned over to kiss him soundly on the cheek. Charlotte grinned and her soft blue eyes threatened to spill over with tears.

                “Just a few more months and we’ll have you home.”

                Bellamy and Octavia spent the night with Clarke and Jasper that night. Bellamy and Clarke lay in bed, with Bellamy pressed against Clarke’s back and curled around her, and she murmured, “You know, I think I might be falling in love with you. Is it too soon to say that?”

                “Not if I’m feeling it too,” Bellamy whispered in her ear, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear.

                “And are you?”

                “All the way, princess. And we haven’t even had sex yet.”

                “We definitely need to get on that soon. I don’t know how many more times you can leave me wanting before I jump you at the breakfast table.”

                Bellamy smiled against the back of her neck and ordered, “Go to sleep, princess. We’re going to be too tired to work in the morning.”

                She snorted, but closed her eyes and went to sleep anyway.


	24. The First Fight

                It was their first fight. It was March, and it was their first fight.

                “You can’t run them like that! They’re going to get sick and then what? We’ll have a bunch of sick kids on our hands.”

                “They ran three miles, Clarke. It won’t kill them! You’re the one who told me that they want to be in better shape. The only one that threw up was Monty, and that’s because you fed him sugar cookies before he went on a three mile run. So if anybody’s to blame for one of the kids getting sick, it’s you!”

                “Fuck you, Bellamy! Don’t tell me how to treat my kids. I don’t tell you how to raise Octavia!”

                They were tucked away upstairs. Clarke had pulled him up there to lecture him and the lecturing had slowly boiled into angry hisses being thrown between the two of them.

                “What’s wrong with the way I raise my sister?” Bellamy snarled. “Just because I don’t have money to throw at any problems she has doesn’t make me a bad guardian. I can’t buy her a new movie every time she has a bad day. I actually talk to my sister.”

                “Are you suggesting that Jasper and I don’t talk?” Clarke’s tone dropped to a new level of ferocity. “I do not throw money at his problems. Why is it that you always have to bring up money?”

                “I don’t always bring up money!”

                “Yes, you do. You call me princess because you think I live in a castle, you get irritated every time I want to pay for dinner, and you’re always telling Octavia not to ask me for anything. It’s my money, Bellamy Blake!”

                “Your money that your parents gave you.”

                “Oh, so your problem with my money is that I didn’t work for it! You’d rather I had no money and wasn’t able to help anybody. You’d be okay with me not being able to keep the kids from getting suspended and putting a roof over my son’s head, the son I apparently throw money at.”

                “It would definitely make anyone who isn’t a teenager able to be around you. It’d make you a little more likeable.”

                Clarke’s mouth fell open and she stopped, her words freezing in her throat and guilt bloomed in Bellamy’s chest immediately. Remembering that she’d once told him Finn called her unlikeable the day she kicked him out. Frigid, unlikeable, overly responsible, doesn’t care about anyone else, used for her money. Bellamy said quickly, “No, Clarke, wait.”

                “Get out,” Clarke growled, her voice barely above a whimper.

                “Wait, I didn’t….”

                “Go hang out with your sister or just leave. I don’t care,” she sneered, her voice remaining quiet, even though he could see the tears teetering at the edges of her eyelashes.

                “Get out, now.” Her voice didn’t raise above a whisper, and he wandered if that’s what Finn faced all those years ago. Her big blue eyes filled with anger and unshed tears while her voice croaked out orders, so close to falling apart, but still fearsome.

                “Clarke, please let me….”

                And then her hands collided with his chest, hard and shoving him backwards. She snapped, “I can’t deal with this, Bellamy! I won’t do it! I have other things to worry about, I have things to take care of! You can’t do this to me! You can’t treat me like this and then just apologize because you feel guilty! I don’t care what you think about me, just get out!”

                With that, he left. He grabbed his jacket, kissed Octavia on the forehead, and assured Jasper weakly, “I’ll be back to practice next week. You guys keep practicing your passes.”

                Jasper and Octavia traded worried glances across the crowded kitchen, and, within minutes, the seven ARC kids convened in Jasper’s bedroom, sprawling out on bean bag chairs or Jasper’s bed to talk.

                “They were fighting when they went upstairs,” Jasper was the first to speak and Monty reached over to pat him comfortingly on the leg.

                “Maybe Bellamy left to cool down,” Lincoln tried to intervene.

                “That wasn’t Bellamy’s cool down face. That was his ‘I fucked up and don’t know how to fix it’ face,” Octavia objected, her voice scared. Lincoln threaded their fingers together and Monroe patted her back.

                “What were they even fighting about?” Jasper whimpered.

                “Us. They were fighting about Bellamy making us puke,” Octavia replied. “He shouldn’t have run us so hard. He should have listened to Clarke.”

                “We shouldn’t have complained so much,” Monty joined in. “I shouldn’t have eaten all those sugar cookies before I went on the run.”

                “It wasn’t even that far of a run,” Miller joined in. “We need to train more.”

                “Don’t blame yourselves,” Atom spoke up suddenly. He wasn’t well known for interacting with the group during discussions. “If Clarke hears us blaming ourselves, it’s going to make her even more upset. And don’t blame Bellamy either. She’ll feel guilty because he’s Octavia’s brother, and she’ll blame herself even more.”

                “You’re right,” Octavia agreed. “We can’t blame anyone. We have to agree that Clarke and Bellamy are both stubborn.”

                “We can blame Finn for making Mom so sensitive,” Jasper suggested.

                “How does that help anyone?” Monroe asked.

                “We could call him and cuss him out,” Monty said with a shrug.

                “Okay, yeah. Let’s do that,” Jasper agreed. “Then, we’re going to pretend like nothing happened, because Mom won’t talk about it while we’re all here. After everybody leaves tomorrow, I’ll talk to Clarke and Octavia will talk to Bellamy. It’s one fight. How bad could it be?”

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                “You said what?” Octavia’s screech filled the apartment. “She’s a great Mom! She doesn’t throw money at anything! What is wrong with you, Bellamy Blake?”

                The cup she was holding barely missed his ear and he was glad they only had plastic dishes because it hit the wall next to him with enough force to knock some of the paint off. “I tried to apologize! She won’t answer my phone calls.”

                “Maybe because you’re an insensitive ass who couldn’t see that she was trying to protect us! Most of us haven’t ran three miles every day like you’ve been doing. And who’s the reason you can run three miles? You’re such a dick, big brother!”

                “Octavia, don’t throw that! We need the security deposit back on this place!”

                The fork scratched the wall where it hit when he ducked. She was across the kitchen, closest to the counters with all the dishes/weaponry, and he was behind the kitchen table, trying to nurse a beer and feel sorry for himself.

                “You’re such an idiot! What were you thinking?”

                “She started it, O!”

                “ _She started it_ ,” Octavia mimicked. “So what!? You love her and you’re willing to risk that all because she was concerned you were running seven teenagers too hard?”

                “It wasn’t just that…”

                “No, of course it wasn’t. You’re also concerned that, what, she’s spending too much money? That she didn’t break her back making it? That she didn’t struggle and have a sucky life like us?”

                Bellamy flinched and the spoon she threw hit him in the arm. He shouted, “That you don’t need me anymore, O!”

                “What?” Octavia froze, her arm bent with her hand dropped over her shoulder, poised to throw a ladle at him.      

                “You don’t need me anymore when we’re with Clarke and Jasper.” Bellamy looked down at the table shamefully. “It used to be you and me against the world. But, now you never need me. I don’t have to help you with your homework, or drive you to school, or anything. You’re always busy with the others and if you need help with your homework, it’s Clarke that’s got a college degree-not me. She’s the one who can afford to buy Indian food whenever she wants or take you out to the zoo when I never could. I can’t do any of that. What am I if I’m not your big brother?”

                “Oh, Bell.” Octavia dropped the ladle and crossed the kitchen to wrap her arms around him in a hug. “I’ll always need you, but there’s nothing wrong with it being you and me and Clarke and Jasper against the world. I don’t care how much money Clarke has. And now it’s not just me that needs you. It’s Jasper too. And Clarke. But I will always need my big brother, and there are always things that only you can help me with. Like when I have my panic attacks and you’re the only one who knows what song to sing to calm me down. Or when I finally ask Lincoln out and you have to be the one who says I’m too young to date, but let’s me go anyway. I need you, but you need somebody else. It’s not healthy for us to be the only two people that we have. We need a family, Bell. We need people who also need us.”

                Bellamy tightened his grip on her and rested his chin on the top of her head. “How’d you get so smart?”

                “I had a pretty awesome older brother that taught me a lot of really cool stuff,” she replied, her voice a little muffled by his shirt.

                “I’ll go to the school tomorrow during her lunch break and apologize,” he promised. “Even if she won’t forgive me.”

                “She’ll forgive you,” Octavia assured him. “She loves you too, you know.”           

                “Good, because it would be pretty embarrassing if I were the only one in this situation.”

                “You wouldn’t be any more of an idiot than you usually are.”

                He tickled her under the ribs and Octavia jabbed him hard in his stomach, knocking the breath out of him but making him laugh proudly while he struggled to regain his breath. From the living room, his phone rang with the annoying jingle Octavia set as his ring tone.

                “I’m going to get that. You pick up the silverware you chucked at me. And, starting next weekend, we’re going to work on your aim. You throw like a baby.”

                The Blakes released each other and Octavia aimed a playful kick at his backside as he headed towards the living room. Bellamy was still rubbing his ribs when he answered the phone without looking.

                “Bellamy Blake, how can I help you?”

                “Bell…” Clarke’s voice was broken by a choking sob and Bellamy’s heart paused midbeat.

                “Clarke, what’s wrong? Where are you? Are you okay?”

                “You and Octavia….Atom….Oh god…” Her voice was lost in another sob and a second later he could hear Jasper’s voice before hers was lost.

                “Bellamy…” Jasper’s voice was dry and cracked, like it had been lost.

                “Jasper, what’s going on? Are you alright? Is Clarke alright?”

                “We’re fine. You and Octavia should come to the hospital. Atom was shot in a drive-by. His mom called us a few minutes ago and we’ve been calling all the ARC kids. We’re going to pick up Lincoln on the way over.”

                “I’ll get Lincoln. It’s on the way from our apartment. Are you sure you can drive?”

                “I can drive us to the hospital.” Jasper replied and Bellamy could hear him nodding his head. “We’ll see you there.”

                Jasper hung up and Bellamy turned to face Octavia where she was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. She asked quietly, “What’s wrong, Bell?”

                He crossed the space between them in a few large steps and informed her, “Atom’s been shot. We’re going to pick up Lincoln, and then we’re going to meet Clarke and Jasper at the hospital, okay?”

                “Oh god.” Bellamy took a few minutes to hold Octavia close to him, letting her sob into his shirt before they walked downstairs to his car together.

 


	25. Love in a Time of Tragedy

                Bellamy picked Lincoln up and Octavia moved to sit in the back with him so Lincoln could hug her while she cried. He tried not to look in the rearview mirror as he drove, knowing he would only see Lincoln’s sorrow filled eyes as he ran a big hand over Octavia’s hair, trying to soothe her. The Greens, Jasper, Clarke, Miller, Monroe, and their foster parents were already in the hospital waiting room when they got there and Octavia left Lincoln’s arms to hug each of her friends, all of them breaking down once again when she pressed her way into their arms. Bellamy stood back, watching his sister hold onto Jasper like she was going to break apart while Jasper stared up at the ceiling and tears dripped down his cheeks silently. Bellamy’s eyes slid away from him to Clarke, who was sitting in a chair with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. As he stared at her, she lifted her head up and her bloodshot blue eyes met his. She moved first, standing up from the chair and taking a step forward. He took the final steps, catching her in his arms and cupping the back of her head to hold her face against his chest.

                “I’m so sorry, Clarke,” he murmured.

                “No, no,” she sniffled. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. Just please hold me, Bellamy. Please be here.”

                “I’m not going anywhere,” he promised. “I’m here as long as you need me.”

                She collapsed into sobs again and he caught her, holding her steady before he moved to the couch in the little lobby. The kids settled around him and it was Na Green who explained, “He’s in surgery now. The bullet hit him in the neck. The gangs on that street have been getting worse and worse.”

                “He’s not affiliated,” Lincoln said gruffly. The big teenager was standing behind where Miller was holding a sniffling Monty. Monroe was tucked under Lincoln’s arm, staring silently at the wall. “He was probably caught in it.”

                “Three other boys were shot too,” Na agreed with a nod of her head. “Two of them died before the ambulance could get there. Atom’s mom is with the doctors now. She’s the one who called Clarke.”

                Clarke raised her head at the sound of her name, but Bellamy only carded his fingers through her hair and tried to soothe her with a kiss to the top of her head. The kids shifted through positions on the couch, taking turns tucking themselves into Clarke or Bellamy’s side. If they tucked themselves into Bellamy’s side, he draped his arm over their shoulders and hugged them tight until they calmed down. If they were on Clarke’s side, they draped themselves over her, covering her completely. Bellamy found himself soothing Jasper, Monty, and Monroe just as much as he did Octavia, until, finally, all the kids had settled into various positions and were deep asleep. Lincoln was sitting on the floor against the wall with Monroe’s head on his legs. Monty and Miller were curled together on the other couch and Jasper had ended up under Bellamy’s arm and reaching across him to clasp Clarke’s hand in his own. Octavia was on the other side of Clarke, holding her other hand and snoring lightly.

                Miller and Monroe’s foster parents settled in near the TV and fell asleep soon after all the kids nodded off. Na took the rest of the Green’s home and returned with blankets to drape over the sleeping children and coffee for herself and Bellamy. Bellamy pulled his arm away from Jasper’s shoulders and took the coffee with a nod of thanks in Na’s direction, careful not to spill it on the sleeping teenager when Jasper flinched in his sleep. Na settled into the only empty chair and said softly, “They’ve taken to you, Mr. Blake. I’ve never seen the ARC kids react this way to anyone.”

                “They only like me because Clarke does,” he said with a grim smile. “She makes their sun shine. If she started dating Ted Bundy the kids would give him a chance.”

                Na chuckled and replied, “But she isn’t dating a bad man. She’s dating you. And the kids don’t care if Clarke doesn’t see what’s inside. Monty hated Finn from the minute he met him, but he never told Clarke. My boy likes you though. Says you care about Clarke for more than what’s on the outside.”

                “Yeah, I do,” Bellamy replied, turning his eyes away to smile softly down at the sleeping blonde.

                “You love her?”

                “Yeah,” Bellamy admitted. “I’ll find a better time to tell her later, when she remembers that she was mad at me yesterday.”

                “Yesterday doesn’t matter anymore,” Na said with a nod. “Whatever happens tonight makes yesterday null and void.”

                “Atom’s a strong kid.”

                Na only nodded again and sipped at her coffee.

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                Atom’s funeral was on a Thursday, and none of the kids went to school between Monday and Thursday. They stayed in Clarke’s house, camping out in the living room while the parents slept upstairs. Bellamy stayed wherever Clarke or Octavia were, ready to shake them out of their nightmares or soothe a panic attack that sometimes started in Octavia and ended in Jasper. With the help of Miller and Monroe’s foster parents, he cooked breakfast in the morning and picked up dinner in the evening on his way back from work. Na rotated between her house and Clarke’s but told Bellamy solemnly, “I trust that you have everything under control. This is what Monty needs right now. To be with the people like him.”

                The night after the funeral, a solemn affair with a closed casket, Bellamy lay with Clarke sprawled across his chest. The door to the room was cracked so he could hear any whimpers from the kids, and he was slowly running his fingers through her hair. He was sure she was asleep when her cracked voice sounded out. “Oh god, Bellamy. What am I doing? I need to get a counselor for the kids, and we need to start having group sessions and we need to…”

                “You need to rest,” he stopped her. “The kids are doing as well as can be expected in this situation. They’re all sleeping downstairs. Lincoln promised that he’s not going to try to find out what gang did it, and Octavia is keeping him pretty busy anyway. Jasper and Monty have been working on a memorial video for Atom. They started it today and it’s their way of coping. Miller’s been cooking lunch for everybody and he and Monroe have been keeping each other close. Call for counselors in the morning, but know that you did the best you could have tonight.”

                “I could have gotten Atom out of that neighborhood ages ago.”

                “No, you couldn’t have. I talked to Na. She told me that you offered Atom’s mother the same deal you offered Lincoln’s family and she said no. She was too proud to accept help.”

                “I should have tried harder,” Clarke argued.

                “The world doesn’t rest on you, Clarke. There are other people in it to hold it up as well. None of this is on you.”

                She fell silent and Bellamy closed his eyes, convinced that she’d fallen asleep that time. But she surprised him when she said quietly, “I love you.”

                Bellamy opened his eyes and stared down at her. She was peeking up at him, her face barely turned up and her eyes still bloodshot. He tangled his fingers in her hair so that he could pull her head back and attach his lips to hers. He kissed her, deep and long, and when he pulled away and she was gasping for breath, he murmured softly, “I love you too, Clarke Griffin. You are likeable, and warm, and an incredible mother and woman.”

                She smiled for the first time since hearing the news and finally fell asleep in his arms.


	26. Jas and Tavia Take Care of Each Other

                “Ms. Griffin please report to the guidance office, Ms. Griffin to the guidance office.” Clarke swiped a hand across her forehead to ease an itch, knowing that there would be a smear of purple paint to follow. She looked around her room at the students working quietly and then down at the paint brushes she was washing.

                “I’m leaving the door open!” Clarke announced to the classroom. The students barely spared her a glance. “No paint fights, unless it’s for art. But, remember, if somebody gets hurt or upset, then it’s not for art. I’ll see you guys in a few minutes.”

                She wiped her hands on a paint stained towel that hung beside the sink and headed to the office, wondering if it was Principal Kane or Guidance Counselor Nyko that wanted her. She muttered under her breath, “Please let it be Nyko.”

                She stepped into the office and the new secretary handed her a tissue to wipe at her forehead. Clarke greeted, “Thanks, Mel. What’s the sitch? Am I in trouble or am I being called in to help a student.”

                “Well…you’re not in trouble,” Mel said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

                “So it’s a student. What happened?”

                “Ms. Griffin, please come in here!” Kane’s voice boomed and Clarke sighed.

                “You could have warned me,” she muttered and Mel had the sense to blush. Clarke straightened her shoulders, stepped into Kane’s office, and didn’t know whether to sigh in exasperation or be worried when she saw Octavia and Jasper sitting in the office chairs. Jasper had an ice pack pressed to his eye and Octavia’s right hand was wrapped in a startling white bandage.

                “Okay, what’s going on?” Clarke asked.

                “We have to wait for Bell to get here,” Octavia informed her. “They called him as soon as they brought me in, so he should be here in about eight minutes.”

                Clarke looked between Jasper and Octavia and then to Kane, who was sitting on the edge of his desk, his face weary and smug at the same time. Clarke ordered, “Get Nyko in here. If the four of us are going to have to deal with you, we’re going to need a mediator.”

                Kane rolled his eyes, but went and retrieved Nyko, who handed Clarke a cup of tea when they came back five minutes later. Nyko murmured comfortingly, “You will be proud of your son this time.”

                “I’m always proud of my son,” Clarke replied with a soft smile in Jasper’s direction. He smiled back and flashed Clarke a thumbs up. Kane cleared his throat and glared at the two of them, just as Bellamy rushed through the door, grease smeared across his cheek and his unruly curls all over the place. He went to stand behind Octavia and checked, “You alright?”

                “I’m fine. Jas got the worst of it. But I got a few in.”

                Jasper shook his head at her and reminded, “Hey, innocent until proven guilty.”

                She nodded and smiled up at her brother. She said sweetly, “I’m fine, Bell. We just had a rough day.”

                “So now will you tell us exactly why our kids are in this office?” Clarke spoke up, moving to stand behind Jasper. He leaned his head back against her stomach as she ran her fingers through her hair softly and passed the cup of tea off to Bellamy.

                “Your kids started a fight in the cafeteria,” Kane announced, looking sternly from the Blakes to the Griffins.

                “We didn’t start that fight!” Octavia piped up.

                “They started it!” Jasper protested. “They were harassing Octavia!”

                “And they threw the first punch at Jasper. I defended him. There were two of them.”

                “Do you have the fight on camera?” Clarke asked at the same time as Bellamy growled, “They were harassing Octavia?”

                “It’s on camera that Jasper pushed one of the boys first. And both boys sustained injuries past what Octavia and Jasper sustained.”

                “He grabbed her ass!” Jasper’s voice rose to a shout. “And he told her that he knew the way the cameras are angled so there’s no way anyone would believe him. He said….”

                “Jasper.” Octavia calmed him by covering his hand with hers. “It doesn’t matter what they said. Jasper only pushed that idiot because he wouldn’t get out of my space. He punched Jasper first. And he was going to keep hitting him if I hadn’t hit him in the throat.”  

                “You hit him in the throat?” Bellamy couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice.

                “Mr. Blake, if you are going to encourage the two of them, I’m going to ask you to leave the room.”

                “I’m her guardian. You can’t ask me to leave the room,” Bellamy retorted. “Sounds like they were defending themselves. Like they had no choice.”

                “We cannot allow fighting in the school in any way, shape, or form,” Kane lectured.

                “The other boys will be suspended as well,” Nyko said firmly. “Which is why Kane is only requesting a two day suspension for Octavia and Jasper, instead of a full week suspension, which is what the other boys are getting.”

                “They’re only getting a week for harassing Octavia?” Clarke growled.

                “A week without the ability to make up work,” Nyko added. “Octavia and Jasper will have the opportunity to make up any work that they miss.”

                “Our kids should not be suspended for defending themselves,” Bellamy argued again.

                “We have a policy against fighting. Because of the students’ involvement in the ARC program, we could press for the third strike rule. Clarke, you know that the agreement was that the students would stay out of any and all trouble, whether they started it or not,” Kane said firmly. “Two days suspension, students are allowed to make up any and all work. When all students return, the two boys will issue an apology to Octavia and Jasper.”   

                “If they come near us, there are going to be worse problems,” Octavia warned. “They can save their apologies. They’re not worth a shit.”

                “Two days suspension, they can make up all their work, and it doesn’t go on their permanent record,” Clarke bargained.

                “You won’t be able to do anything if we do suspend them.”

                “I’m sure that Bellamy will be quick to file a suit on this school for not protecting his sister or her rights. This is sexism at its worst.”

                “I think it’s sexism and racism!” Bellamy chimed in. “It’s because we’re half Filipino, isn’t it? If this were a white student, you’d be all over it, making sure to take care of everything. If Jasper were the girl and O were the guy in this situation, you’d be praising them for taking care of each other!”

                Kane’s eyes widened as two pairs of dangerous blue eyes and two pairs of bottomless brown eyes stared at him across the table. Nyko stood by the door, sipping his tea quietly and trying not to smile. Kane said through gritted teeth, “Two days, starting tomorrow, but they take a half day today. I want them gone by the next period bell.”

                Bellamy and Clarke nodded and the two parents led their delinquents out of the office and into the hallway, where they immediately high fived. Bellamy hissed, “Careful, you’re supposed to look like you’re in trouble.”

                “Right.” Jasper and Octavia nodded at each other before Octavia cried out, “What am I going to do? A suspension? How will I learn?”

                “Don’t send me home!” Jasper cried out. “Mom’s so mad! She’s going to lock me in the basement!”

                “Jasper!”

                “Bellamy’s going to make me run laps until I puke!” Octavia rejoined. “What are we going to do, Jasper?”

                “Go get your stuff from you locker so you can go home,” Bellamy sighed. The two delinquents took off down the hallway, dramatically throwing themselves against the lockers and lamenting the fact that their guardians were going to beat them for getting suspended.

                “She’s your sister,” Clarke informed him drily.

                “Nope. They’re both yours right now.”

                “Oh, they’re only mine when they’re in trouble, huh?” Clarke laughed.

                “Yep. Trouble belongs to you.”

                “I’m pretty sure all the trouble in the world lives with you, Bell.” Clarke tilted her head to smile up at him and he ducked his to kiss her innocently.

                “Don’t you have work to do?” he murmured, his breath hot against her lips.

                “Don’t you?” she retorted.

                He laughed and pulled away, throwing his arm over her shoulder and pulling her forward when he stepped forward. “Let’s play like we’re teenagers and I’ll walk you to class. Maybe we can sneak off somewhere and make out.”

                Clarke laughed and scolded, “Bellamy Blake, I am a professional adult.”

                “You have purple paint on your forehead. A lot of it. When I first saw you, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be afraid.”

                “What did you decide?”

                “Fucking terrified. The purple paint said laugh; your eyes said ‘fear me and my wrath.’”

                “I’m glad my eyes are so expressive. What are they saying now?”

                “Well, I could be misreading them, but I think they’re saying we should go back to my apartment while the kids go to your house and see if we can finally get past second base without one of the kids interrupting us.”

                Clarke blushed fiercely at the memory of Octavia walking into the laundry room where Bellamy had her pinned against the dryer with his hand up her shirt and his working at the button on his jeans. They’d both thought the kids were upstairs in Jasper’s room, with Octavia teaching Jasper how to defend himself, and they thought they were safe in the basement.

                “Go home, you horndog,” Clarke laughed. “Are you staying at the house tonight or taking O home?”

                “I’m pretty sure O and Jas will want to celebrate tonight. And I’ll bet anything that Monty and Lincoln will be over to celebrate too. I’ll be there to help out.”

                “And keep an eye on Lincoln and your sister.”

                “That’s just a bonus. I’m going to have to accept that he’s going to ask her out eventually.”

                “Especially with prom coming up.”

                “Prom?” Clarke laughed at the choked sound that came from Bellamy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everybody. I'm going overseas for a month so I won't be able to update until June. Sorry for the long wait!


	27. First Times and Home Comings

                “She’s really going to prom.”

                “Mm-hm.” Bellamy and Clarke’s hands were clasped in the center of the seat of his truck.

                “Oh my god. She’ll be a Junior next year. Her high school years are half over. What’s she going to do after high school? Is she enrolled in college prep courses? Should she start filling out scholarships now?”

                “Why don’t you let her enjoy prom, and then talk to her about scholarships after the summer,” Clarke suggested softly, stroking her thumb over the back of his hand.

                “Do you go through this with Jasper?” Bellamy tore his eyes away from the road to stare at her for a second.

                “I go through this with all of them,” Clarke chuckled. “It gets easier. She’ll never be too big to be your baby sister.”

                “Just…she looks so grown up.”

                Clarke tried not to smile when she heard the tears in his voice and she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. She assured him, “You did good, Bellamy. She’s happy, and healthy, and she’s attending her first prom with a boy on her arm that would move Heaven and Hell for her.”

                Bellamy looked over at Clarke again and pulled their joined hands up to kiss the back of her hand hard. He said solemnly, “I love you.”

                “I love you too. Now, wanna go home and try to break the dry spell we’ve both been having since we always have one to six teenagers in the house?”

                “Why, Clarke, are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” Bellamy feigned shock.

                “If you think I’m suggesting that we light some candles and have sex until we’re exhausted, then yes I am.”

                “My virtue!”

                “If I have anything to say about it, neither of us will be leaving the bedroom with our virtue intact.”

                They were kissing before they got the door unlocked and Bellamy cussed when Clarke dropped the keys. He growled against her lips, “Just get the damn electronic security thing.”

                “Doesn’t keep burglars out, Bell. Just tells me that they’re in the house,” she replied as she finally managed to push the key into the lock with her back pressed against the door. They nearly fell in as the door swung open, and Bellamy grabbed her under the thighs and hefted her up. They stumbled inside, barely managing to slam the door shut behind them, and Bellamy wandered blindly towards the stairs.

                Bellamy yanked his mouth away from hers to trail kisses down her throat and she grasped at his hair while she ground against him. She whimpered, “We’re not going to make it up the stairs like this.”

                “I really don’t want to let you go,” he growled. “Right here?”

                “We’re not having sex in the living room where our kids watch TV!”

                “Fine, fine.” Bellamy slid her down his body and they stood still to kiss for a second longer before Clarke pulled away and taunted, “Last one up is on top.”

                “For the first round!” he called after her as she turned around and raced up the stairs. Even running her five miles a day when he spent the night at her house would never make him as quick as her. By the time he reached the bedroom, she was laying on her bed in her bra and panties- a mismatched set of a blue bra and white underwear that made him grin.

                “I didn’t take off everything.” Her voice was a purr, dark and beautiful. “I figured I’d leave some of it to you.”

                “How generous of you.”

                She laughed and he pulled his shirt off before he joined her on the bed, covering her body with his and grinding down against her hard, stilling the laughter before it could escape. When his mouth moved to her throat, she gasped, “Oh god, Bell.”

                He groaned and continued his exploration of her body. It wasn’t the first time for either of them, but, as they stared into each other’s eyes while their hands explored and their mouths sought each other out, it was as if there had been no others. Afterwards, they lay with Clarke’s head on Bellamy’s chest and their legs entangled. Bellamy pulled his fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame the sweat tangled curls, and she asked, “Has it ever been like that for you?”

                “No,” Bellamy answered honestly, knowing she meant the power and the inability to stop once they’d gotten started. “It felt…”

                “Perfect,” Clarke submitted.

                “Perfect,” he agreed. “Get some sleep before we have to get up and see which of the kids drank tonight and which didn’t.”

                Clarke groaned and suggested, “We could take a shower, and then get some sleep.”

                “You are a goddess.”

                When the kids got home at four in the morning, Bellamy and Clarke were wrapped around one another on the couch, their coffee cups long forgotten on the living room table. Jasper threw a blanket over the two of them, Lincoln turned off the TV, and Octavia took their cups to the kitchen before they all three went upstairs to Jasper’s room and went to sleep- Jasper on his bed, and Lincoln and Octavia innocently holding hands on the floor.

 

                “Welcome home, Charlotte!”

                Clarke stood slightly behind the big eyed blonde in the doorway to the kitchen. The ARC kids and Bellamy were waiting in the kitchen with cake and ice cream. A banner hung down from the ceiling that read, “We’re so glad you’re here!” and Bellamy had spent the morning blowing up balloons with Jasper and Monty. Miller and Monroe slaved over the over, or Miller did while Monroe just did whatever he asked, and Lincoln and Octavia decorated the house. Lincoln walked around with Octavia on his shoulders. It was the most the group had ever seen the giant grin since Bellamy had begrudgingly gave permission for the two of them to date.

                Charlotte stood in shock, staring at the group around her and Clarke pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. She asked softly, “Is it too much, Char? I’m so sorry, I should have known that…”

                “No!” Charlotte said quickly. She smoothed her hands over the blue dress that Clarke brought to the delinquent center for her and informed everybody, “I just need a second to take it all in. This is the first time I’ve ever had a family. The first time I’ve ever had something like this.”

                The sound Jasper and Octavia let out simultaneously was a mix between a wail and a victory cry. They moved as one to grab her and pull her into a hug. Bellamy walked around the hugging group to Clarke and dropped an arm over her shoulder. He muttered, “What do you want to bet that Octavia will deny that sound for the rest of her life?”

                “Oh, she’s way too cool to have made that sound,” Clarke joked.

                “Mom, get in here and hug Charlotte with us!” Jasper ordered. “Bellamy, you too. Come on, Dad!”

                Nobody said anything but Bellamy glanced down at Clarke as they moved towards the throng of teenagers moving towards Charlotte. Clarke only shrugged and patted him on the back as they surrounded her, pressing warmth through Octavia and Jasper and into Charlotte, who was crying silently at that point. For the first time in five years, she walked free, or as free as a person could with probation already hanging over her head. Jasper and Octavia introduced her to everybody as soon as the group pulled apart, with introductions like, ‘This is Monty’s future husband Miller, they’re just weird about it’ and ‘Miller and Monroe are like soul mates, in a completely platonic way. Like, you never see one without the other’ and ‘This is my boyfriend, Bell, don’t look so constipated!’

                Even though it was originally planned that Clarke would take Charlotte for a tour of the house and property, the teenagers insisted on doing it after ice cream and cake because ‘we know all the secret spots, Clarke!’ So Bellamy and Clarke stood inside to clean up the kitchen while the kids went on their wild tour.  

                “So, dad, huh?” Bellamy commented as he washed dishes steadily. Despite Clarke’s perfectly functioning dishwasher, Bellamy preferred washing dishes by hand when he had something on his mind.

                “He’s just teasing you because there are three of them now. He and Octavia call themselves our kids, and I think they both wanted to see if it would get under your skin,” Clarke replied casually as she wiped down the table. “I could talk to him if it bothers you.”

                “No, no,” Bellamy said thoughtfully. “It doesn’t bother me. Just feels a little weird. I mean, it’s been like, six months. This is the most serious relationship I’ve ever had.”

                “So you’re suggesting we should pop out a few more? Have some little ones running around with our big ones?” He couldn’t see the taunting grin that painted her face.

                “Not for a couple years,” he replied seriously, without realizing what he was really saying. “We’d need time to get things figured out and I’d want to finish getting my Associate’s degree, maybe my Bachelors.”

                Clarke stopped moving completely and turned to stare at him. He was still washing dishes quietly, and didn’t turn around until her silence stretched into a minute. When he did, he found her wide blue eyes on him, watching him carefully. His mouth shut with a hard click of teeth and his jaw tightened. Bellamy’s eyes fell to the floor and he grumbled, “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to…”

                Clarke dropped the rag and crossed the kitchen floor as quickly as she could to stand in front of him. She grabbed the front of his shirt forcefully and dragged his mouth down to hers in a hard, heated kiss. When he pulled away, gasping, he asked, “What was that for?”

                “Because I’m an adult woman who just got so turned on by my boyfriend talking about kids and a future that I’m pretty sure I’m about to explode,” she replied, her voice husky.

                “That’s what gets you worked up? Are you telling me I’ve been wasting my time with kissing you and touching you? I could have just told you I wanted to poke holes in condoms and you would have been stripping?”

                She smacked him on the chest and warned, “You got turned on last week when I said that I would love to learn more about Greek and Roman mythology and history!”

                He shrugged and leaned forward to kiss her, muttering against her lips, “It’s not my fault I have the sexiest, smartest woman in the world with me almost every night.”

                “It could be every night if you’d stop going back to your own apartment,” she replied, and sighed when Bellamy pulled away to stare down at her.

                “So you can casually mention having kids and being together for years to come, but I can’t bring up you moving in with me?” Clarke sighed. “How’s that fair?”

                “We’ll talk about moving in later,” he promised. “Just not today. Not when Charlotte’s home for the first time. And O and I are still planning our trip to our mom’s grave. Just, not today, alright?”

                “But soon,” Clarke said solemnly.

                “But not today,” Bellamy repeated.

                She fake snarled up at him and he leaned forward to kiss her anyway. He said softly, “I do love you though.”

                “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for following while I've been gone. I missed hearing reviews and seeing people like the story so I hope I get back in the swing of things quickly!


	28. Serious Conversations

                Charlotte fit into the house like the missing puzzle piece. On days that Bellamy and Octavia spent the night, which was most of them, Charlotte rode to work with Bellamy. On days that Bellamy and Octavia didn’t spend the night, Bellamy still picked her up first thing in the morning to get breakfast at a local café and Clarke picked her up at night. The Blakes and the Griffins cycled through having lunch with Charlotte, and, when all six kids weren’t at the Griffin ARC resort, they all went out to dinner. With summer upon them, Octavia spent most of her time locked in the art studio that Clarke had let her spread into the garage, or with Lincoln. Jasper and Monty were deeply involved in robotics competitions, which Miller, Monroe, and Maya attended religiously, when Monroe wasn’t going on dates with Lexa or applying for a rock climbing camp just outside of town. Almost every night ended with two or more of the kids in the front yard in a tent, or in the living room pretending not to hear the rain, while Clarke and Bellamy curled close and pretended that they weren’t domesticated adults.

                “Hey, Bell?” Clarke was undressing for the night while Bellamy rubbed Icy Hot on his shoulder and ran through his checklist one more time. He and Octavia were set to leave out early the next day for Ohio, where their mom was buried.

                He grunted in response and she pulled on his t-shirt before she moved to kneel behind him on the bed so she could take over smearing the Icy Hot into his skin. She continued, “Your lease runs out the week after you guys get back, right?”

                “Mm-hmm.” He groaned and his head rolled back to rest against the hand she had braced against his shoulder to hold him steady.

                “Are you going to renew it?”

                He shrugged.

                “You should move in here. I know we mentioned it once but you didn’t want to talk about it.”

                “Still don’t know if I want to talk about it,” Bellamy muttered lowly.

                Clarke’s hand paused on his shoulder and she sighed, “It’s June. It’s been seven months. You and Octavia are here all the time. Just move in with us. Please.”

                “Clarke, can we talk about this when I get back from my trip?”

                Clarke’s hands fell away from his skin and he closed his eyes. Her voice didn’t show the weariness in her eyes when she persisted, “When you get back from your trip, you’re going to put it off again, and again, and again. Why, Bell? You guys are here most nights and most days.”

                “We’ll start staying at the apartment more.” Bellamy moved forward on the bed, moving away from her.

                “Bell, that’s not what I’m saying! I want you here! Jasper wants you here, Charlotte wants you here. It’s not like we don’t know each other well enough.”

                “If we’re here so often, what’s wrong with keeping the apartment?”

                “Because you’re paying rent on a place you’re not even living in! You could be putting that money anywhere else. Like towards college for you. Your first year went amazing, even with your late start!”

                Bellamy didn’t have to turn around for Clarke to know he was unhappy. His shoulders tensed up. His voice was a low growl when he replied, “I can pay for college and an apartment, Clarke. I don’t need your charity.”

                “Bellamy, that’s not what….”

                “Can we just go to bed? Octavia and I are leaving in the morning and we won’t be back for a week. Let’s just…we’ll talk about it some other time.”

                “Bellamy…”

                “Please, Clarke.” He still didn’t turn around to look at her.

                “Fine. Some other time.” She agreed through gritted teeth. She lay down in bed and ordered, “Turn the light off before you come to bed.”

                Bellamy stripped down to his boxers and put away the Icy Hot. He turned off the light and slid into bed behind Clarke, curling around her, even though her body remained tense. He murmured, “You know I love you, right?”

                “Right,” Clarke answered tersely. “And I love you, even if you won’t let me show it.”

                They fell asleep with their bodies like stone walls, despite the softness of skin against skin. At breakfast, the kids pretended not to notice the tenseness between Bellamy and Clarke. There were no soft kisses and innocent touches while they moved past each other. No unabashed grins and quiet murmurs. Nothing but chatting with the kids and avoiding each other’s eyes. When Bellamy and Octavia left, he and Clarke kissed chastely before the kids exchanged hugs. When Jasper hugged Bellamy, he muttered into his ear, “What did you do now, man?” and Octavia whispered to Clarke, “What’s wrong with you two?”      

                Their answers were the same. “We’re fine. Don’t worry.”

                It wasn’t until Octavia and Bellamy were three hours towards Ohio in Bellamy’s beat up truck that Octavia looked up from texting Lincoln and demanded, “What’s wrong with you and Clarke?”

                Octavia had her bare feet resting up on the dash and every window in the truck was rolled down. Bellamy answered breezily, “Nothing’s wrong, O. We’re fine. I love her and she loves you.”

                “And neither of you acted normal today,” Octavia retorted with a snort. “The two of you are gross. You’re always touching each other and smiling and kissing. You can’t go ten minutes without putting your hands on her, but this morning you two acted like strangers. I’ve seen more romance from distant cousins than I did from you two.”

                “We’re fine,” Bellamy repeated.

                “Yeah, because I’m texting Jas now and he said that Clarke is out on the lake in the rowboat and she only goes out on the rowboat when something is bugging her.”

                “What makes you think it has anything to do with me?” Bellamy demanded. “The death of her father is coming up in July. It could easily be that.”

                “Good. You’re fighting with her when the anniversary of her father’s death is coming up. What’d she do, Bell? Offer you money for this trip?” Octavia watched his face carefully while Bellamy stared at the road with determination. “Compare you to Finn? Worry about you hanging out with Charlotte? Talk about the apartment?”

                Bellamy’s eye twitched and Octavia jumped on it like a hound sniffing for blood. “The apartment! What? It’s about the lease? Did she ask you to move in with her?”

                Bellamy’s eye twitched again and Octavia snapped, “She asked you to move in with her and you, what? You got mad, didn’t you? What did you say to her, Bellamy? Come on. Why do you do this every time somebody tries to do something good for you?”

                “I don’t need my girlfriend’s charity,” Bellamy finally opened his mouth to speak.

                “What charity?”

                “We move in with her, she pays all the bills, buys our food, puts gas in our vehicles. If I move in with her, she takes care of me all the time and then what? I’m just her toy?”

                Octavia rolled her eyes and tapped out a quick text to Jasper. Octavia’s voice was filled with irritation when she sighed, “Bellamy, I love you so much. But you’re an idiot. Clarke loves you. She wants us to live with her so we can be with her, all the time. She doesn’t want to take care of you. She wants to get to do all the fun stuff with you. Waking up, making dinner, watching TV together in your pajamas, running together every day. She wants to do that stuff with us. Are you going to do this forever?”

                “Do what forever, O?”

                “Push her away every time you think she’s getting too close? Let your pride get in the way. Do you think she’ll put up with this forever? She’s a gorgeous, smart, talented woman, Bell. And you’re an amazing man. She loves **you** and she wants to be with **you.** Do you want to be with her?” Octavia put her phone down and stared at her brother with a glare that matched his own sullen glare.

                “Of course I want to be with her,” Bellamy growled.

                “Then stop being an idiot. Because a woman like Clarke shouldn’t have to wait around forever, but she will. And that’s fucked up, bro. So break her heart now, or act like a man and actually be with her.”

                Bellamy glanced away from the road to glare at her. He informed her, “You’re driving at the next gas station.”

                “And you’re going to call Clarke when we stop for the night.”

                “No. I’m not. And you’re not texting anybody anymore. Send out a text on your phone and on mine that says we’re going on radio silence. O, this trip is about us. It’s about reconnecting with our past to make our future better. So no more talking to people. Turn it off and put it up until we’re on our way back.”

                “Are you shitting me?!”

                Octavia didn’t bring it up again until they were standing in front of their mother’s grave, looking down at the inscription “Aurora Blake: an angel taken from a hard world too soon” that Octavia sighed, “Bellamy, we’ve been pushing people away our whole lives because we’re worried that something like this is going to happen again. That we’ll love them when we know we shouldn’t and we’ll lose them. But we can’t live like this, Bell. We don’t deserve too. We deserve better.”

                “What if something happens with Clarke and we don’t have a place to live?”

                “Bro, we moved four times in one year because I kept getting in trouble. I think we can figure out a breakup.” She slipped her hand in his and breathed in deeply. “We’re strong, big brother. We can do anything in the world.”


	29. Long Talks About Houses

                The screams were the hardest part to deal with about the nightmares. Sometimes, they would start in Charlotte’s room, and it was like they triggered Jasper’s own nightmares. Clarke wasn’t sure who to wake up first. With Bellamy in the house, he went to Charlotte and she went to Jasper, then they traded, then he went to check on Octavia because sometimes the screaming caused her to have panic attacks. Without him, she first went to Charlotte and soothed her before sending her to her bedroom. Then, she went upstairs to Jasper and calmed him, pulling him down to her bedroom as well. The queen sized bed usually filled with Bellamy sprawled out on his back and herself tucked into him neatly was filled instead with Clarke in the middle and Jasper and Charlotte curled into her sides. This was how Bellamy and Octavia found them when they returned to the house five days later.

                They crept into the house quietly, noticing that there were no lights on, despite it being far past time for breakfast and Clarke’s morning run. Octavia whispered at the front door, “Where is everybody, Bell?”

                “Don’t worry,” he assured her, even as his hands tightened into fists. “I’m sure they’re fine. They’re probably just sleeping in.”

                Neither voiced that Clarke didn’t sleep in if everything was fine, and Bellamy moved Octavia behind him thoughtlessly. Octavia whimpered, “Bell, what’s going on?”

                “Stay down here,” he ordered grimly as they moved towards the stairs.

                “No! I’m going with you!”

                “O, don’t argue.”

                “You don’t argue either! I’m coming with you.” She grabbed onto his forearm and held tight and he gave in. Together, they moved up the stairs. They crept down the hallway, turned into Clarke’s room, and sighed with relief.

                “Thank God,” they said together, causing Clarke to stir. She opened her eyes and glanced around the room, first checking on Charlotte and Jasper sleeping on either side of her, then looking forward to Bellamy and Octavia.

                “Hey,” she whispered hoarsely, “welcome back.”

                “It’s good to be back. Are you having a sleepover and you didn’t invite us?” Octavia teased lightheartedly, even as she toed off her shoes and moved towards the bed. She crawled in behind Jasper and curled her body around his. Jasper scooted towards Clarke to make more room. Clarke smiled softly at her and smoothed a hand through her wild hair before refocusing on Bellamy, who crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed where Charlotte was still sleeping soundly.

                “Rough night?” he murmured.

                “Yeah. I called into the garage for Charlotte already. Miller and Monroe went on a hiking trip up north to celebrate their adoption going through, and I have to go pick up Monty and Lincoln around three.”

                Bellamy nodded and leaned over Charlotte to kiss Clarke on the forehead. He ordered, “Sleep. I’ll make brunch for everybody.  You and I need to talk afterwards.”

                “If it’s bad, can we not do that,” Clarke asked half jokingly.

                “It’s not bad. It’s just talking,” he promised. “Go back to sleep. You look like Hell.”

                “Thank God you’re so romantic or I’d never know what a princess I am,” she retorted sarcastically.

                “I prefer my princesses with a little Hell in them.” He kissed her again and left the room, leaving her with three kids in her bed, all sleeping soundly. The kids woke up a couple hours later, ate brunch, and then dispersed quickly, spreading out across over the house and the grounds- Octavia to the garage, Jasper to the attic, and Charlotte to the lake to swim. Clarke and Bellamy, as always, were left to clean up after them.

                “So, what are we talking about?” Clarke asked as she put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. She sat down at the table with her coffee and Bellamy was slow to join her.

                “You want us to move in with you,” Bellamy said carefully.

                “And you made it very clear that you’re not going to do that,” Clarke replied harshly.

                “Can….can we just talk about it?” His eyes stayed on the table. “What does it mean if Octavia and I live here?”

                “What do you mean?” Clarke reached across the table to cover his hand with hers, but pulled back at the last second and gripped her coffee cup tighter.

                “What do I do if I’m living here? Do I pay rent? How much does it cost to keep this place up and running? God, could I ever even think about affording to keep this place up and running?” Bellamy looked around the kitchen and it was clear that he was thinking about the size of Clarke’s house, her grounds, and everything that went into keeping ARC together.

                “I don’t pay rent because I own this house. I get government money because I help underprivileged kids, and what I isn’t paid for by the government is taken out of the bank account I have set up. I have money invested in over twenty companies that are doing fairly well- a portfolio my father built for me before he died. Out of pocket costs come from the gas for the cars I drive, and for personal things. I pay for food, which runs up to about three hundred dollars a month. I could have applied for a grant for the food for the kids, but it would have specified what I could spend the food money. So the only cost that I truly give is the three hundred dollars a month for food.”

                “I want to pay half of it. And anything Octavia does, I pay for. Prom dresses, dances, school supplies, clothes, everything,” Bellamy said firmly. His eyes rose off the table to meet Clarke’s and she stared at him with one eyebrow raised. He explained, “I want to move in with you. I want both of us, me and Octavia, to move in with you.”

                She dropped her coffee cup onto the table and jumped up, knocking the chair over in the process. She almost knocked Bellamy’s chair over too when she leapt into his lap, straddling him in the chair and wrapping herself around him. She demanded, “You promise?”

                “I promise.” He nodded and she sealed her lips over his, kissing him hard. That night, at dinner with Lincoln, Jasper, Octavia, Charlotte, and Monty, Clarke ordered, “Alright, everybody, say something good about this week. Who wants to start?”

                “I’ve been doing really good with being a secretary,” Charlotte announced. “Wick told me he’s never seen somebody as good at organization as I am.”

                “Jas and I almost finished the robot. We’re going to win this competition,” Monty said certainly. He and Jasper high fived over the hamburgers.

                “Maya agreed to go to the movies with me on Tuesday.” Jasper grinned at Clarke and Bellamy squeezed her hand. He knew how hard it was to accept the growth of her kid.

                “I’ve picked five colleges to apply to. One of them is even an art school. And some of the others are near art schools.” Lincoln smiled at Octavia and Clarke pinched Bellamy under the table to push the frown off his face.

                “I’m almost ready to show Bellamy my art project,” Octavia announced.

                “I can’t wait to see it, O. And, O, I found us a place better than the apartment,” Bellamy informed her.

                “Is that your good news? Where’d you find?”

                “It’s pretty close to town,” Bellamy listed off. “It’s got a great view, and there’s even more room for you to paint and stuff.”

                “Sounds good,” Octavia said slowly. “Where is it, Bell?”

                “It’s a surprise. Clarke, your turn,” Bellamy ordered, smiling at Octavia’s irritation.

                “First, Jas, what are you doing on Monday? After Char and Bell get off work. There’s something I need you to help me with.”

                “Clarke, that’s cheating. Business after you tell your good news,” Jasper chided.

                “Jas, what are you doing on Monday?” Clarke repeated. “I make the rules so I’m allowed to break them.”

                “Cheater,” he accused. “Monty’s coming over in the morning to put the final touches on the robot. The competition is Thursday, so O is painting it on Wednesday. She’s going to make it look like a destroyer of nations.”

                “That’s perfect. I need your guys’ help moving some stuff, if you don’t mind. I’m sure Bellamy and I could do it, but I’d like the three of you to be involved if you could.”

                “I’m available,” Jasper agreed. “O, you busy on Monday?”

                “Nope. Chilling like a villain,” she replied. “What’s up, momma bear?”

                “Well, we’re going to help the Blakes move, so we’re going to need to clear out a couple of the bedrooms upstairs, unless Octavia wants to stay in the girl’s wing, which is completely fine with me. We can even paint it. And we’ll probably have to…”

                Clarke didn’t get to finish because Jasper leapt up and hugged her at the same time that Octavia latched onto Bellamy. Charlotte got up and draped her arms over the shoulders of both of them, pulling them together so their heads touched. Lincoln drew a bigger grin from Octavia when he asked, “So the wedding will be next year, yeah?”

                “Lincoln!” Clarke cried out at the same time as Bellamy laughed, “We’ll see next year, Linc.”

                When Clarke reached over to swat him, he caught her hand and pulled it up to her lips.


	30. The Future is Bright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. So this fic has been nominated for an AU award on bellarkefanfictionawards tumblr. I'd love it if you feel compelled to go vote for it. I know I have some pretty faithful followers who have stuck around, even during the month hiatus. So if this is something you think deserves awards, head on over there and give it a vote. Thanks!

****

                “Close your eyes, Bell. I mean it. If you peek, I’m going to be pissed!”

                “I’m not going to peek, Octavia.” He was blindfolded. Clarke had been sure to provide Octavia with the best blindfold possible, one of the thousands of things that she had that Bellamy didn’t want to ask about.

                “Well, just make sure you don’t.” She had his hands encased in hers and she was steadily dragging him forward through the house. He wanted to wait until they got to the garage door to put the blindfold on, but she insisted that he put it on in the kitchen so she would know it was on steadily. She claimed, “This way, if you bump into anything, I’ll know you really can’t see.”

                He had bumped into the kitchen counter, the couch, and almost tripped over the few steps that led to the garage doors. He was thankful that Jasper, Clarke, and Char had gone to visit Abby to inform her that Charlotte, Bellamy, and Octavia were living at the house, and that she and Bellamy were dating. When Bellamy asked if he should be present for the initial announcement, Clarke insisted that, since it would probably end in a screaming match, she didn’t want Bellamy’s first impression of her mother to be that.

                The door to the garage creaked open and Bellamy made a mental note to grease the hinges as soon as possible. He listened to Octavia shuffle around before she moved behind him to remove the blindfold. He blinked at the sudden light, but, when his eyes readjusted, his mouth fell open. The corner of the garage was set up in a replica of the living room their parents died in. Giant wooden canvases created the walls and a couch was pushed against one. Two mannequins lay on the floor. Everything was the way it had been that day, except there were large pieces painted into every surface- like holes had fallen out of everything. They were gashed into the mannequins’ torsos, there were two on the couch, and they spread across the walls and carpet, various sizes and shapes. But, painted into them was images, as if he could see through the holes and into something new. There were glimpses of faces, half of faces, parts of smiles, and halves of houses. His eyes were painted into the wall, his freckle sprinkled nose was on the couch, and his smile was in a hole in the floor. A flash of blonde tendrils stretched across the arm of the couch, trees and mountains appeared, and, on the mannequins, he could see Octavia’s eyes, her hands, her smile.

                “I call it ‘What Comes from Heartache,’” she informed him. “What do you think?”

                Bellamy kept his eyes on the scene in front of him, sweeping over the broad strokes and the careful use of light. He thought of the police pictures he’d seen that day, and the way he knew that Octavia sat on the couch, just watching her parents dead on the floor. He asked, “Is this what you see when you think about them?”

                “No,” she answered honestly. “I see their blood, everywhere. I see the way Mom’s eyes were afraid. I see the way Dad still looked angry, even with half of his head missing. But this, this is what I want to see. This is what I like better. I painted it so I can see this instead when I closed my eyes. I painted it because this is what you did for me.”

                Bellamy grinned and pulled her under his arm. He kissed her on the forehead and complimented, “It’s good. It’s amazing. You’re amazing, O. Are you going to show people?”

                “I don’t know. I just wanted to paint it. I just wanted to make it better.”

                “I love it. Are you going to keep it?”

                “Yeah. Clarke gave me the garage so I can do whatever I want in here. I’m going to take a break and go swimming. You really like it?”

                “I really love it,” he swore.

                Octavia left to change into her swimsuit and Bellamy stood there, staring at the project that Octavia began when she joined the ARC program in September, and had just finished enough to show him.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{{}}{][][][][][][][][p[pkp[][][][][][][][][][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]

 

                “I hate you so much.”

                “You do not. Hold still.”

                Clarke lay on their couch while Bellamy rubbed her feet. She was swollen from her hands down to her feet. She groaned, “I do too. You gave me cankles.”

                “Yeah, I’m pretty sure Augie gave you cankles.”

                She pulled her foot out of his hand and aimed a kick at his thigh. Bellamy quickly corrected, “Of course, you don’t have cankles, and you’ve never had cankles before.”

                She smiled weakly at him and asked, “When are Jasper and Octavia coming in? Their spring breaks line up this year, right?”

                “Yep. They’ll be in on Thursday. They told their professors that they have a very important meeting to be at. They’re going to stop and pick up Lincoln and Maya on their way in,” Bellamy promised. “They wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

                Clarke groaned again and Bellamy asked, “He kicking?”

                It had been three years since the kids graduated and moved out. Charlotte was dating a nice guy she’d met online and working as a social worker. Lincoln was in college down the road from where Jasper, Monty, Miller, and Octavia decided to go together. Monroe, in a move that had surprised all of them, went to college in New York, leaving Miller for the first time since they were ten years old.

                Bellamy leaned forward and kissed her swollen belly. Their first born rested heavy in her womb. They’d been married since the summer after Octavia’s junior year in high school Jasper’s senior year. Their ceremony was small, with even Raven in attendance. It was six months before their wedding that Raven ended it with Finn, explaining, “I just didn’t need him anymore.” And it was at their wedding that Wick got his first look at her. It was much smoother than they thought, even with Abby’s obvious disapproval. She’d been disapproving since the first time Clarke had invited them over and allowed Abby to meet him. Clarke’s pregnancy was a surprise to everybody, but a welcome one, despite the fact that Octavia had to spend thirty minutes calming Bellamy down because he couldn’t stop crying from a mixture of joy and absolute panic.

                “You wouldn’t make an appearance without your big brother and sister and your Auntie O, would you, Augie?” Bellamy cooed to her stomach.

                “We don’t even know if it’s an Augie yet,” Clarke replied. “It could just as easily be a Cleo.”

                “I’m ninety eight percent certain that he is an Augie,” Bellamy argued. “Our little Augustus Jacob will be born this week.”

                “But he could just as easily be Cleopatra Dawn,” Clarke retorted.

                “Remember, whoever wins, picks the first outfit they leave the hospital in.”

                “Yeah, yeah. I know. Why didn’t we just find out the gender and end this months ago?”

                “Because we love torturing each other.” Bellamy pressed soft kisses to the swell of her belly and Clarke groaned.

                “Back or stomach?” Bellamy sighed. He’d learned in Augie’s fifth month that she never groaned for pleasure.

                “Everything hurts and I’m tired and the stairs seem like a mountain.”

                “Well, come on, princess. I’ll carry you off to the giant bathtub that you insisted we install with jets and bubbles.” He stood up and pulled her up in his arms. She nuzzled his neck and wrapped her arms around him.

                “Have I told you today that I love you?”

                “Yes, somewhere between ‘more mashed potatoes!’ and ‘how do you mix potatoes with peanut butter,’” he teased.

                They’d moved the ARC camp out of the house, moved it to one weekend a month and in school visits, and hired counselors once Raven got big in NASA and attributed her success to the ARC program. Time Magazine did a spread on ARC and funding poured in. The house was quieter, but it was good for the expecting mother and for Bellamy’s nerves. He was elated when she was able to start writing grants to spread ARC across the country instead of working her ass off every day.

                Bellamy carried her into the bathroom and sat her down on the edge of the tub so he could run water while she undressed. She warned him, “You’re joining me.”

                “Tease,” he said with a light hearted smile.

                “Trust me, as soon as I’m able to again, we’re going back at it. If you’re not too tired playing Daddy and Mr. Blake.” Bellamy worked as the accounts manager at a local office. He was steadily rising in the ranks, something he was praised for often for only having his Associates degree.

                “I will never be too tired for you,” he promised, rising to strip off his clothes. He was finished undressing completely by the time Clarke was pulling her shirt over her head, grumbling about her sore breasts. He helped her into the bathtub and settled into the steaming, lavender scented water behind her, wrapping his arms around her belly so he could feel Augie kick like he did every time she climbed in water.

                “I think he’s going to be a swimmer,” Bellamy said definitively.

                “Well she won’t be a runner if she’s anything like her father,” Clarke teased. She rested her head back against his chest and closed her eyes. Bellamy snorted. “How many more days until I can give up and start doing all the things those old wives’ tales say will make me have this baby?”

                “Two. We have to wait for the kids still.”

                Clarke grunted again and Bellamy flipped his hand to splash her. He taunted, “You’ve done nine months. Two more days won’t kill you.”

                “They might,” Clarke said solemnly. “Let me tell you, having my first two kids was so much easier than this.”

                “Well, those two came pre-grown. If you’d had them at nine and twelve, it might have been a little harder,” Bellamy replied.

                “Can we tell Cleo when she comes out that Jas and Charlotte were much easier for Mommy to birth?” Clarke sighed.

                “Absolutely not, princess.” Bellamy rested his chin in the dip of her shoulder and closed his eyes.

                Clarke groaned and Bellamy didn’t open his eyes when he asked, “Back?”

                “No, it feels like a contraction,” Clarke answered through gritted teeth. “Damn Braxton Hicks.”

                That made Bellamy open his eyes again quickly. “Clarke, it’s a little late in the game for Braxton Hicks contractions. Are you sure it’s not a real contraction?”  

                “If it is, they’re not close enough together for me to be worried, so hush, Bell, and be my big, cuddly husband.”


	31. And a Baby Blake is Born

                They stayed in the bath until the water got cold, and Bellamy rubbed cocoa butter all over her body before he wrapped himself around her in their bed and they fell asleep. Clarke woke up around six am and groaned. Her body was wracked with contractions and it kept her from sleeping for more than a few minutes at a time. The bed around her felt different, warm, but cool at the same time. And, wet.

                “Bell, did you spill something?” Clarke asked as she spread her hand out on the mattress.

                He grunted into her hair and her hand passed over the mattress before sliding down to her legs, where the water seemed to have come from. Her eyes widened with realization and she elbowed Bellamy hard in the ribs, waking him up with a snort that was almost a shout.

                “What? What? Oh god, Clarke, did you pee the bed?”

                “My water broke, jackass, and….” Her voice faded as another round of contractions struck her. “Oh god. These ones aren’t Braxton Hicks. Bellamy, the baby is coming!”

                “What?” He rolled out of bed and stood with his hair sticking up at all angles and his eyes wild. “Oh God, no. He’s not supposed to come for another two days, at least. We’re supposed to be ready for this. We’re supposed to…”

                Clarke sighed and muttered, “Useless.”

                She rolled out of bed and waddled her way to the dresser. She threw Bellamy’s shirt and jeans at him and pulled off her nightgown so she could pull an actual dress over her head. Bellamy was nearly hyperventilating and, even though she knew that Jasper would be hurt, she called Octavia first on Bellamy’s phone.

                “Whatcha need?” Octavia’s voice was sleepy when she answered the phone and Clarke could hear Lincoln snoring on the other end.

                “Calm your damn brother down. I’m going into labor and I need him to be able to drive. I’m going to call Jas and Charlotte.”

                “Oh my god!” Octavia’s squeal was lost as the phone arced across the room to land on the bed next to where Bellamy was standing with his head lost in his shirt.

                “Talk to your sister,” Clarke ordered, even as she picked up her own phone and dialed Jasper.

                “What’s up, Mom? Everything alright?” Jasper was surprisingly awake.

                “Everything alright, Jas? You’re not usually up this early. Did you even go to sleep last night?”

                “Got up early to study with Monty and Miller. Got organic chem final in an hour. It’s the last one and then I’m homeward bound. Well, as soon as I pick up Octavia.”

                “You’ll do great, kiddo.” Clarke gritted her teeth against another wave of contractions. “Don’t worry about this, but I’m going into labor. Don’t rush through your exam or anything. Babies can take a really long time to be born, so I want you to be safe, alright?”

                “Oh my god!!” Monty and Miller’s voices sounded in the background, asking what was going on.

                “Don’t freak out. Go to your exam. Do awesome, be awesome, and I’ll see you when you can safely drive home. Tell Monty and Miller that I love them. I’m going to call your sister. The one that hasn’t been born yet.”

                “I’ll see you in ten hours, Mom! By the way, I’m only going to have one sister still because Augustus Jacob Blake is going to be born soon!”

                “Stop siding with your dad! I love you.”

                “Love you too!”

                Clarke hung up and called Charlotte, who started weeping immediately and had to be consoled before she could coherently agree to be the phone tree person and call all of the other previous ARC kids, Abby, and anybody else who wanted to be present for the birth. By the time she was finished, Bellamy was nodding frantically as he finished talking to Octavia. Clarke asked, “You good?”

                “The hospital bag and the diaper bag are in the car. I’ll call the hospital and let them know that we’re on the way. Do you need anything? How are you feeling?”

                “The contractions hurt, but I would kill for some Arbys right now,” Clarke answered honestly. “Can we get that before we go to the hospital? I think it will take a while for Cleo or Augie or whatever this baby decides to be to make an appearance.”

                Bellamy walked around the bed silently until he was standing in front of her. He put his hands on her shoulders and drew her in for a hard, long kiss. When he pulled away, he informed her solemnly, “I love you so fucking much.”

                “I love you too,” Clarke replied. “Seriously though, Bell. Can we get Arby’s before we go to the hospital?”

                “If you wanted moon cheese, we’d find a fucking way to get it. Let’s go get in the car, and get roast beef sandwiches, and then let’s go have our kid!” Bellamy kissed her again and they headed towards out of the room.

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                “Is the baby….”

                “Shhh.” Bellamy turned to press his finger to his lips and halted Charlotte, Octavia, and Jasper in the doorway. Clarke was sleeping, her stomach still swollen.

                “There’s no baby and it’s been ten hours!?” Octavia hissed.

                “Is everything alright? Shouldn’t she be awake, screaming in pain or something?”

                “Epidural,” Bellamy replied. “It knocked her out. She’s stuck at nine centimeters. She’s only at the eleven hour mark.”

                “Only?” Charlotte repeated.

                “They’re going to give her a C section if she doesn’t dilate soon. They say he’s alright, but they can’t push the labor any further,” Bellamy said in hushed tones. “Come on in.”

                They filtered into the room and took their seats. They created a chain of chairs and all held hands. Octavia tried to soothe Bellamy, but he sat solemnly and stared at Clarke until she groaned and opened her eyes. As soon as her eyes were open, Bellamy broke the chain, leapt up, and grabbed her hand.

                “Hey, any pain? How are you feeling? You look great. You’re beautiful,” Bellamy cooed.

                “You’re such a suck up,” she chuckled. “The epidural was good. It was a good decision. Do we have a baby yet?”

                “No baby yet,” Bellamy replied, soothing a hand over her cheek.

                “He is taking forever to get here,” she groaned.

                “So you do think it’s an Augie,” Bellamy teased.

                “I think he or she or they or it needs to appear,” Clarke groaned. “Are the rest of our kids here? I want to see Jasper and Octavia and Charlie and I want to hold their hands.”

                “They’re right here.” Bellamy nodded and the kids joined him around the bed. “I’m going to go get the nurse. I’ll be right back.”

                He leaned forward and kissed her. Jasper took his place and Charlotte moved around to the other side of the bed so they could both hold one of her hands. Octavia sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at her. Clarke grinned up at them and said loopily, “You know, this hurts. This hurts so much, but I would have done it for you two. I would have gone through this if it meant I got to have you guys myself.”

                “We know, Mom,” Jasper assured her.

                “And, Octavia,” Clarke said suddenly, “I would have given the world to make yours better!”

                “I know, Clarke. We all know. You’re the best person ever. Bellamy’s getting the nurse now, and she’s going to come in here, and I bet that you’re ready to get Augie out.”

                “Everybody is on Bellamy’s side,” Clarke sighed.

                “Sorry, Clarke,” Charlotte spoke up. She was trying to keep quiet to keep tears bitten back.

                “It’s okay. I think he’s Augie as well. But I can’t tell Bellamy that, because he’ll never let it go. I love that idiot.”

                “We know. And he loves you.”

                “And he brought the nurse,” Bellamy announced from the doorway.

                Everybody looked away while the nurse checked on Clarke and then announced, “She’s ten centimeters! It’s time to start pushing!”

                The kids were pushed out of the room and Bellamy took his place by Clarke’s side. Thirty minutes later, Charlotte asked, “Should she be screaming like that with epidural?”

                “You still feel something called the Ring of Fire.” Jasper was scrolling through the google on his phone. “Oh, god. It sounds awful.  It’s terrible. Why didn’t Clarke and Bell just adopt for the rest of their lives? There are enough underprivileged teenagers out there.”

                “Augie was a surprise, remember?” Octavia replied. She had bitten her nails down to stubs. The three of them were posted in the hallway, where they weren’t supposed to be but every nurse was wise enough not to send them away from. It was their duty to text the people in the lobby updates every ten minutes. The people in the lobby consisted of Miller, Monty, Raven, Abby, Kane, Wick (Bellamy’s friend from work), Monroe, Dax, and Harper on Skype, Miller and Monroe’s parents, Monty’s Mom, Nyko, Anya (the counselor Clarke hired), and Echo, Glass, Luke, Gus, and Skyler(the new ARC students).

                Two hours later, Augustus Jacob Blake was pushed into the world. The nurse rested him on Clarke’s chest and she reached out blindly for Bellamy’s hand, unable to take her eyes off the beautiful dark skinned baby boy resting on her breast. Bellamy took her hand and let her pull him onto the hospital bed. She said softly, her voice reverent, “Look at him. My eyes, and your skin, and, oh, he has your freckles. God, he has your freckles. He’s perfect.”

                “Yeah, he is.” Bellamy choked on his tears. “I love you so much.”

                “I love you too. We’ll introduce him to the rest of his family once he gets some Mommy and Daddy time.”

                Bellamy wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her tight to him. With his other hand, he reached out and pressed his finger into Augie’s palm. Augustus Blake’s tiny fingers wrapped around Bellamy’s index finger and his other hand tightened against his Mom. Clarke informed him, “He recognizes his daddy’s voice.”

                With that, Bellamy lost it and buried his face in her hair so he could cry. Life wasn’t perfect. Clarke and Bellamy saw the worst of it when they brought in a teenager who stole to survive, or couldn’t communicate enough to tell the school that their panic attacks were caused by sexual trauma, or when Octavia still called Bellamy in the middle of the night, her breath caught in her lungs. But, they made it work together.


End file.
